From Nagpur to New York: The RSS Experiments with Kinder Words
Former President of India Ram Nath Kovind at RSS centenary event on Thursday (Image X.com)
Geraghty in an opinion piece almost echoed the RSS arguments, saying that the organisation mostly banks on “persuasion.”
By MANISH ANAND
New Delhi, October 17, 2025 — More than a dozen foreign opinion makers had found a space of envy at the Vijayadashami celebrations in Nagpur when Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat spoke to a global audience on commemoration of centenary of the organisation. They were seated in a special box, overseeing the grand celebrations. A fortnight later, such opinion makers have begun writing their observations, seemingly aligning their views with expectations of the RSS.
Jim Geraghty, a political journalist with the US-based National Review, was among the foreign opinion writers who were invited to witness the Nagpur celebrations of the RSS centenary. Geraghty in an opinion piece for The Washington Post almost echoed the RSS arguments, saying that the organisation mostly banks on “persuasion.” He also spotlighted the counterargument against the western label given to the RSS of being a “militant Hindu outfit.”
“To my American ears, it sounds a little odd to hear the group regularly referred to as a paramilitary organization,” wrote Geraghty, “when its members march around with long sticks instead of firearms.” Unlike his western peers, Geraghty didn’t refer to communal riots in India.
Incidentally, the RSS sympathisers and loosely affiliated organisations had invited the foreign opinion writers from all continents to witness the centenary celebrations of the RSS in Nagpur. Bhagwat reportedly also interacted with them separately. Besides, they were extensively briefed about the RSS before they arrived in Nagpur.
Geraghty admitted that his trip to Nagpur was sponsored. “My trip was sponsored by the Hudson Institute and the Foundation for India and Indian Diaspora Studies, whose president is affiliated with RSS,” he wrote in the article. The US-based Hudson Institute is a prominent think tank, which often releases papers on India.
Geraghty revealed in the article that the foreign opinion writers exchanged their views about the RSS. Christophe Jaffrelot, who is a regular commentator on the RSS, sensitized the foreign group, saying: “Vigilantism is inherent in the mission.” He was also quoted as saying that the “RSS never ruled out the use of constraint and violent means.”
The invited group also wondered if similar organisation existed in their homelands. “A South African woman attending the anniversary ceremony asked me what an equivalent would be in the United States,” wrote Geraghty, while he asserted that “there isn’t one.”
He argued that “the U.S. — and other nations experiencing a spike in populism and nationalism — would be wise to keep a close eye on the group’s rise.” “An American RSS would somehow bring together the Republican Party, a swath of the evangelical churches, a dash of the MAGA movement, the Boy Scouts, the American Federation of Teachers, the AFL-CIO or Teamsters, and maybe the Guardian Angels,” added Geraghty in the article.
The American journalist also noted that the RSS with “five million members” most have given a “a sense of connection and community, of belonging to something great and consequential.” “RSS tells its members that they are needed and their lives have great purpose,” noted the writer.
Follow The Raisina Hills on WhatsApp, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and LinkedIn
About The Author
