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On Vijayadashami in 1925, Keshav Baliram Hedgewar, a doctor and disillusioned Congressman, announced the formation of an organisation that would go on to play a major role in Indian society and politics. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which began with a handful of young men in Nagpur, is today celebrating its 101st anniversary, and is arguably more powerful than it has ever been before.

But why did Hedgewar decide to form the RSS, and how did the organisation come up? As it marks 101 years, we explain its history and origins.

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) emerged from a period of intense political debate over nationalism and Hindu-Muslim relations. Its founding idea was that Hindu society needed to overcome its internal divisions and develop the discipline, unity and strength to become the foundation of the nation.

Hedgewar’s own political journey reflected the competing currents of early 20th-century India. He belonged to the Bal Gangadhar Tilak faction of the Congress, and was also associated with the Anushilan Samiti, Bengal-based network that promoted revolutionary nationalism. The Congress’s growing emphasis on Hindu-Muslim cooperation, particularly Gandhi’s support for the Khilafat movement, increasingly alienated many like him.

Hedgewar believed that British rule over a vast country was possible partly because Hindus lacked cohesion, collective confidence and the qualities necessary for organised action. The answer, therefore, was a sustained effort to transform Hindu society from within.

According to the RSS website, “Dr. Hedgewar said often, “Even if the British leave, unless the Hindus are organised as a powerful nation, where is the guarantee that we shall be able to protect our freedom?””

The Khilafat agitation sought to protect the position of the Ottoman Caliph after the First World War. Gandhi’s decision to link it with Non-Cooperation was intended to unite Hindus and Muslims in a common struggle against British rule. But this was unpalatable to a section of Hindu Congress leaders, including in Maharashtra.

Many also disagreed with Gandhi’s strategy of a non-cooperation movement. For example, GS Kharpade, an associate of Tilak, said of the non-cooperation movement in 1920 that “as preached now”, it “may develop powers of endurance, but cannot breed the energy and resourcefulness and practical wisdom necessary for a political struggle.”7

These debates formed part of the political environment in which Hedgewar reconsidered his approach.

According to RSS historian C P Bhishikar’s account in Dr Hedgewar, Parichay Evam Vyaktitva, Hedgewar disagreed with Gandhi’s policy of extending what he considered excessive cooperation to Muslims. He eventually concluded that Hindu society needed to organise itself to counter separatist politics and British influence.

Also, instead of relying primarily on prominent politicians or established social elites, Hedgewar sought to recruit educated middle-class youth, teachers, clerks and others who could be trained to become organisers themselves.

The daily shakha offered a repeatable structure through which the organisation could expand and reproduce its culture across generations.

The RSS’s own account locates its formal beginning at Hedgewar’s house in Nagpur’s Sukravari area. On Vijayadashami in 1925, it says, Hedgewar declared: “We are inaugurating Sangh today. All of us must train ourselves physically, intellectually and in every way so as to be capable of achieving our cherished goal.”

“Formal beginning of Sangh took place in Doctor Hedgewar’s house in Sukravari in Nagpur. Training in drill, march etc. was imparted on Sundays. On Thursdays and Sundays there were discourses on national affairs,” the RSS website says.

The organisation’s name was selected at a meeting on April 17, 1926, at Hedgewar’s house. From four proposed alternatives: Jaripatka Mandal, Bharat Uddharak Mandal, Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the name we know today was chosen.

The emphasis on long-term social preparation also helps explain the RSS’s distance from mass political campaigns. The organisation did not join the Congress-led civil disobedience movement as an organisation. Under Hegdewar’s successor, M S Golwalkar, it similarly stayed away from the Quit India Movement.

This strategy attracted criticism, particularly from those who viewed direct confrontation with British rule as the defining test of patriotism.