The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has spent a century insisting that it works “only in Bharat [India].” A new report from Savera names the department that does its work everywhere else, and locates that department’s center of gravity in the United States.
“Transnational Entanglements: The RSS ‘Vishwa Vibhag’ or ‘Overseas Department’” documents the bureaucracy through which the RSS runs its global operations, including a coordinator, two continental co-coordinators, and a set of full-time RSS pracharaks (cadre) assigned to five geographic zones covering the Americas, Europe, Africa and the Gulf, South and Southeast Asia, and Australasia.
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Savera’s fourth report delves into the hidden power networks behind the group purportedly hosting Bhagwat in Madison Square Garden on August 29 –the little-known AHEAD Forum. Our research shows how, in spite of efforts to obscure these associations, the AHEAD Forum has clearly been organized by the overseas wings of the Hindu far-right, including the HSS (Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh, the US wing of the RSS) and the innocuously-titled FIIDS (Foundation for India and Indian Diaspora Studies, a think-tank with ties to the RSS and HSS).
Savera’s report then uncovers the activities of the RSS’s chief operative in the United States – a man listed in tax forms as a humble “yoga instructor” making $36,000 a year for the HSS. In contrast to his stated job title, this enigmatic individual has travelled to hundreds of locations across the globe in what we show to be his true role: the Global Coordinator of the RSS’s secretive Vishwa Vibhag, or Overseas Department.
The Hindu American Foundation, or HAF, describes itself as an advocacy group for Hindu Americans committed to “dignity, freedom, equality and justice.” Rejecting these claims, our report shows that HAF is better understood as a key node in the global Hindu supremacist (or Hindutva) movement, and belongs to an emerging multiracial Far Right in the U.S.
We showcase HAF’s far-right track record, its deep and ongoing ties to transnational Hindu supremacist networks, and its work to divide communities of color.
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Savera’s second report explodes the VHP-A’s false claims of being an “independent organization” to try and distance itself from its Hindu supremacist origins in India. The report conclusively establishes that the VHP-A:
Hindu supremacy’s century-long and frequently violent history includes five decades of patient institution building in the United States – a process that began with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America (VHP-A), founded in 1970. This report lays bare the damage caused by the VHP-A, from its complicity in anti-minority violence in India to its growing ties with white supremacists on our shores. We argue that U.S. civil society and political actors must clearly see the Global VHP as a supremacist, anti-democratic force, and a key part of the global far-right.
Click here or on the report cover to download the report.
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