THE RSS DOES NOT EXIST

MAPPING THE HIDDEN STRUCTURE OF AN UNACCOUNTABLE ORGANISATION

- AMRITA SINGH

THE FOOTBRIDGE Over Desh Bandhu Gupta Road in Delhi's Jhandewalan is typically dirty and dusty, with the staircase on one end often littered with plastic plates, food and tattered clothes. To use it at night, one has to be careful not to stumble over the homeless people who sometimes sleep at its base. Upon climbing the stairs, a massive tower comes into view-bright lights shine through a row of windows in each of the building's 12 floors. All buildings in Jhandewalan, no matter how tall, are dimmed at night, but not this one.

The grand tower, and the two similar structures behind it, are part of Keshav Kunj, the Delhi headquarters of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, one of the world's largest volunteer organisations, which has marshalled the cause of a Hindu Rashtra for decades.