The RSS modeled itself on European fascism

Evidence

By 1925, Dr K.B. Hedgewar had founded the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a Hindu nationalist organisation. B.S. Moonje, one of the early ideologues of the RSS, travelled to Italy in 1931 and met Mussolini. Inspired by European fascism, the RSS began to create its own squads of storm troopers. (Today they number in the millions. RSS members include former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, former Home Minister L.K. Advani, and four-time Chief Minister of Gujarat Narendra Modi.) By the time the Second World War broke out, Hitler and Mussolini were the RSS’s spiritual and political leaders (and so they still remain). The RSS subsequently declared that India was a Hindu nation and that Muslims in India were the equivalent of the Jews in Germany. — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 167

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the broader historiography of Hindu nationalism and its fascist lineage, relevant to caste politics discussions elsewhere in this book. — connects to: The RSS was ideologically modeled on European fascism, including Nazi antisemitism — Arsalan Iftikhar, Fear of a Muslim Planet_ Global…, 185; The RSS ideologically drives Modi and the BJP with Savarkar’s text.
• corroborated: 3 independent passages support this claim — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 167

Broader Connections

• The RSS was ideologically modeled on European fascism, including Nazi antisemitism #expands (0.90) — Arsalan Iftikhar, Fear of a Muslim Planet_ Global…, 185
• The RSS ideologically drives Modi and the BJP with Savarkar’s text. #expands (0.50)