Pracharak

Pracharak

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) (pronunciation: /rɑːʂʈriːj(ə) swəjəmseːvək səŋgʱ/, Literal translation: National Volunteer Organization or National Patriotic Organization) is a right-wing, paramilitary, volunteer Hindu nationalist group. RSS states that its ideology is based on the principle of selfless service to the nation. It has been criticised as an extremist and a paramilitary group.

The RSS was founded in 1925 by K. B. Hedgewar, a revolutionary and doctor from Nagpur, as a socio-cultural group in British India, to counter British colonialism in India and suppress Muslim separatism.

RSS volunteers participated in various political and social movements including the Indian independence movement and the group became an extremely prominent Hindu nationalist group in India. By the 1990s, the group had established numerous schools, charities and clubs to spread its ideological beliefs.

Its volunteers are also known for their efforts in relief and rehabilitation work during natural calamities and for helping with more than 100,000 charities and eductional/service programmes in the fields of education, health care, rural development, tribal emancipation, village self-sufficiency, rural farming and the rehabilitation of lepers and special needs children.

It was banned by the British Colonial Authorities, and then thrice by the Government of India after independence — first in 1948 when Nathuram Godse, a former RSS member, assassinated Mahatma Gandhi; then during the emergency (1975–1978); and after the Demolition of Babri Masjid in 1992.