RSS and Gandhi: The Idea of India

This book explores the relationship between Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and discusses their relevance in India’s history and socio-political discourse. It looks back at the Indian independence movement and the key debates and issues that the country was confronted with in the early 1900s that continue to be relevant today. These include the practice of untouchability, tensions and conflicts between communities, the treatment of minorities and the marginalized, debates on the ideology of Hindutva, religious conversion, questions on the cultural and civilizational identity of India, and responses to Western modernity. This book discusses the ideological differences between Gandhi and the RSS while also focusing on areas where they converged.

This book will be of interest to students, researchers, and academics working in the areas of modern Indian history, political science and philosophy. It will also be interesting to general readers curious about Gandhi and the RSS.

Sangit Kumar Ragi is Professor and a former head of the Department of Political Science at the University of Delhi, India. His academic journey spans over three decades of teaching and research experience at the University of Delhi. His areas of research range from ethnic conflicts in Indian politics to public policy and Indian political thought. He is the founding editor of the journal; Indian Studies Review. He was a member of the Apex Review Committee for the Prime Ministers Museum in New Delhi. He is also a consultant for a joint project by the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library and the Syama Prasad Mukherjee Foundation to publish the Selected Works of Syama Prasad Mukherjee.