Every few years, the debate over the RSS and India’s freedom movement returns. It is often reduced to slogans. But history deserves facts, not convenient narratives.
The historical record shows that the RSS, as an organization, chose not to participate in the major mass movements against British rule led by Mahatma Gandhi and the Indian National Congress.
During the Civil Disobedience Movement of 1930, Dr. K.B. Hedgewar made it clear that the RSS would remain organizationally separate, although he allowed individual swayamsevaks to participate in their personal capacity. Hedgewar himself joined the Jungle Satyagraha as an individual and served a prison sentence.
The same approach continued during the Quit India Movement of 1942. Under M.S. Golwalkar, the RSS stayed away from the movement as an organization. Contemporary British records also noted that the RSS did not organize civil disobedience against the colonial government. At the same time, several individual RSS volunteers reportedly assisted underground freedom fighters by providing shelter and logistical support. Leaders such as Aruna Asaf Ali and Jayaprakash Narayan are among those said to have received such assistance.
What makes the story more interesting is what happened after Independence.
Once British rule had ended, the RSS became organizationally active in campaigns against the remaining European colonial powers. Its volunteers played an important role in the liberation of Dadra and Nagar Haveli in 1954 and participated in the Goa Liberation Movement against Portuguese rule.
History is rarely black and white.
It would be inaccurate to claim that the RSS, as an organization, led or participated in the principal anti British mass movements before 1947. It would also be inaccurate to deny that individual swayamsevaks contributed to the freedom struggle or that the organization later took an active role in the liberation of Portuguese held territories.
Facts should matter more than political convenience. They usually tell a more complete story than either praise or criticism ever can.
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