THE FOOTBRIDGE OVER Desh Bandhu Gupta Road in Delhi’s Jhandewalan is typically dirty and dusty, with the staircase on one end often littered with plastic plates, food and tattered clothes. To use it at night, one has to be careful not to stumble over the homeless people who sometimes sleep at its base. Upon climbing the stairs, a massive tower comes into view—bright lights shine through a row of windows in each of the building’s 12 floors. All buildings in Jhandewalan, no matter how tall, are dimmed at night, but not this one.
The grand tower, and the two similar structures behind it, are part of Keshav Kunj, the Delhi headquarters of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, one of the world’s largest volunteer organisations, which has marshalled the cause of a Hindu Rashtra for decades.
The RSS, which celebrates its hundredth anniversary this year, is the ideological fountainhead of the Sangh Parivar—a vast constellation of organisations that includes the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party as its political arm; the Vishva Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal as its cultural-religious outfits; the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad as its student wing; the Akhil Bharatiya Adhivakta Parishad as its legal wing; and overseas groups such as the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh and NGOs such as Sewa International. The organisation has long projected itself as frugal and austere, but, since the BJP came to power in 2014, it seems far more comfortable showcasing its wealth and influence. Keshav Kunj is a case in point.
Spread over nineteen thousand square yards, the complex includes three towers housing auditoriums, a Hanuman temple, offices for RSS affiliates, conference halls, residences, a library and even a hospital. The RSS claimed that the building cost Rs150 crores, funded by volunteers. At the building’s inauguration, Mohan Bhagwat, the sarsanghchalak—supreme leader—acknowledged its ostentation. “Prosperity is necessary,” he said, “but it must come with discipline and limits. Our work must uphold the grandeur of this new building.”