UNDER A MANGO tree in Varanasi two dozen men parade in white shirts, black caps and khaki shorts, a uniform modelled on Baden-Powell’s Scouts. They salute a flag, completing a shakha, a morning meeting of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Resurgent Hindu nationalists have perhaps 5m members nationwide, their numbers lifted by Mr Modi’s success. The rank and file adore the muscular leader who was a long-term pracharak, an RSS preacher-monk.
The group used to talk about its cultural and social aims. Now leaders are quite frank about political motives: last year millions of RSS volunteers brought out voters for the BJP, trumpeting the nationalist slogan, “One India, great India”. Among the men this morning (women are not welcome) is Indresh Kumar, in a bulging blue waistcoat. He oversees the RSS’s relations with Muslims, Christians and other minorities. Data from the 2011 census, when finally released, will show that about 20% of Indians are non-Hindu, up slightly on a decade earlier.
Mr Kumar says that “society should be harmonious,...
from The Economist: Special report http://ift.tt/1PYQAMu
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