MUMBAI, INDIA, December 21, 2015 (Times of India): USA is one of 39 countries where HSS runs shakhas, says Ramesh Subramaniam, Mumbai coordinator of RSS’s overseas work. He helped set up shakhas in Mauritius from 1996 to 2004 and now heads Sewa, a platform for overseas Indians to fund RSS service projects. He says HSS works closely with other Hindu cultural organizations abroad including the Chinmaya and Ramakrishna missions.
“We don’t call it Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh overseas. It’s not on Indian soil so we can’t use the word Rashtriya. We call it Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh as it unites Hindus worldwide,” says Subramaniam, adding that RSS’s overseas wing is bigger than its affiliate, Vishwa Hindu Parishad. RSS is the ideological parent of nearly 40 official affiliates including VHP and India’s ruling party, BJP.
The 39 countries where shakhas are held include five in the Middle East where outdoor shakhas are not permitted and are replaced by gatherings at people’s homes. Finland has only an e-shakha where activities are conducted via video-camera over the internet for people from over 20 countries living in areas where HSS units are absent. “The diaspora’s longing for a connection with Indian culture, history and traditions in a context in which they are a minority that is not represented in the mainstream, provides a ready social basis for the RSS,” says Subir Sinha, academician at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London.