Did the RSS Participate in the Mass Anti-British Freedom Struggle? What the Evidence Shows (1925–47)
A recurring debate in India’s public life is whether the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), founded in 1925, participated in the mass anti-British freedom struggle—especially in movements such as Non-Cooperation (1920–22), Civil Disobedience (1930–34), and Quit India (1942).
The best way to answer this is to rely on documented evidence: academic histories, archival summaries, and government intelligence assessments from the time.
1) Scholarly consensus: RSS kept the organisation away from Congress-led mass movements
One of the earliest peer-reviewed academic narratives on the RSS by political scientist Walter K. Andersen explicitly notes that the RSS did not take part in the Quit India movement (1942) as an organisation.
This aligns with later, widely cited scholarship by Andersen and Shridhar D. Damle (including a full-length academic book available in PDF form) describing how the RSS leadership—especially under M.S. Golwalkar—sought to remain outside direct confrontation with the British state and focused on internal cadre-building rather than anti-colonial civil disobedience.
A 2017 peer-reviewed journal article (“RSS and the National Movement”) also discusses how contemporaneous government reports described RSS conduct during 1942, quoting official language that the organisation stayed within the law and did not join the disturbances.
2) British / provincial intelligence summaries during Quit India: “keep aloof” and “scrupulously kept itself within the law”
Two distinct kinds of official observations recur in the historical record:
A) Home Department note: RSS meetings urged members to “keep aloof” from the Congress movement (1942)
A Home Department note is cited in multiple secondary works summarising wartime intelligence: that during the 1942 “Congress disturbances,” speakers urged RSS members to keep aloof from the Congress movement, and that these instructions were generally followed.
B) Bombay Home Department / Bombay Government report: RSS “scrupulously kept itself within the law” and refrained from the 1942 disturbances
An academic chapter hosted by Brill reproduces the key quoted line attributed to the Bombay Home Department: that the Sangh “scrupulously kept itself within the law” and refrained from taking part in the August 1942 disturbances.
This same quotation and interpretation also appears in Andersen & Damle’s book (PDF), presenting it as evidence that, institutionally, the RSS did not join Quit India.
Together, these two claims—“keep aloof” and “scrupulously kept itself within the law”—are among the most cited documentary anchors for the conclusion that the RSS, as an organisation, did not participate in Quit India-era mass civil disobedience.
3) Political separation from Congress was explicit by the 1930s
The separation between the Congress movement and organisations such as the RSS is also reflected in political measures of the time. Reporting on the period notes that the All India Congress Committee (AICC) passed a 1934 resolution prohibiting Congress members from being members/associates of the RSS (alongside the Hindu Mahasabha and the Muslim League).
This is relevant because the largest mass anti-British movements in the 1930s–40s were Congress-led, and organisational participation typically required political alignment and mobilisation under Congress calls.
4) A crucial nuance: individual participation is not the same as organisational participation
It is possible (and historically documented in some local contexts) that individual swayamsevaks participated in anti-British activity in personal capacity, or that local overlaps occurred in isolated episodes. However, the claim assessed here is narrower and specific:
As an organisation, RSS did not officially mobilise itself into the major Congress-led anti-British mass movements—especially Quit India (1942).
The evidence cited above supports that organisational conclusion.
Conclusion
On the basis of peer-reviewed scholarship and contemporaneous government intelligence summaries, the claim that the RSS as an organisation did not participate in the principal mass anti-British movements—particularly Quit India (1942)—is well supported.
At minimum, the documentary record supports two core propositions:
- Wartime intelligence summaries describe RSS meetings urging members to keep aloof from Congress disturbances (1942).
- A provincial report is widely quoted as stating the organisation “scrupulously kept itself within the law” and refrained from the August 1942 disturbances.
Footnotes / References (copy-paste)
- Walter K. Andersen, “The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh: I: Early Concerns” (1972), JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/4361126
- Walter K. Andersen & Shridhar D. Damle, The Brotherhood in Saffron (PDF hosted on Internet Archive; contains discussion of 1942 and official observations). https://ia802808.us.archive.org/24/items/TheBrotherhoodInSaffronWalterK.AndersenShridharD.Damle/The%20Brotherhood%20in%20Saffron-Walter%20K.%20Andersen%2C%20Shridhar%20D.%20Damle.pdf
- Brill chapter PDF: “Origin and Evolution of the RSS: Hedgewar and Golwalkar …” (quotes the Bombay Home Department report language). https://brill.com/display/book/9789004753730/BP000006.pdf
- P. K. Roy, “RSS and the National Movement” (2017), JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26906157
- India Today (2025) summarising intelligence reporting that RSS meetings urged workers to keep aloof from Congress movement (contextual secondary reporting). https://www.indiatoday.in/india-today-insight/story/did-rss-think-quit-india-movement-was-futile-not-worth-joining-2835212-2025-12-13
- Moneycontrol (2024) noting the June 1934 Congress resolution restricting Congress members from associating with RSS (secondary reporting). https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/opinion/how-british-government-tried-to-restrict-rss-and-was-defeated-in-legislative-council-12765178.html
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