RSS is aimed at spreading Hindu-first ideology to all corners of India by propelling the ruling party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to power in as many states as possible. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has provided the foot soldiers in 2014’s landslide general election victory by Modi, who joined the movement in his youth.

“We would want the BJP to win all the state elections because only then can significant social, political and cultural changes take place in this country,” RSS Joint General Secretary Dattatreya Hosabale said. “The 2014 election victory should be seen as the starting point of a long term mission," he added.

Most of the ministers in the federal cabinet had their political consciousness shaped by the RSS and its affiliates. Modi himself has spent his early years as a full-time volunteer with the group, which he credits for his work ethic, discipline and success. BJP President Amit Shah and seven members of Modi’s cabinet joined the RSS in their youth. Home Minister Rajnath Singh, was once an RSS official and went on to lead the BJP, is now pushing for a nationwide ban on cow slaughter.

A close aide to the Prime Minister affirmed that the Prime Minister, is “viewed as the RSS worker who will take bullets in the chest to protect the RSS. He believes that it is the finest institution, a think tank and an organisation that has the power to change India.”

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh was founded in 1925 as an anti-colonial organisation. It promotes the vision that draws on a mix of Hindu legends and ancient Indian history, when the subcontinent was home to some of the world’s most advanced civilizations.

“Hindustan means land of Hindus,” RSS General Secretary Suresh “Bhaiyyaji” Joshi said, using the old Mughal Persian name for India. “So anyone living here is automatically a Hindu first.”

RSS Joint General Secretary Dattatreya Hosabale predicted the number of RSS branches in West Bengal would rise to 1,200 next year from 650 in 2013. Ramapada Pal, the RSS’s chief preacher in the state of West Bengal said, “If a Muslim living in India chooses their god before India, then why should he be allowed to live in our country? This country belongs to Hindus first.”

Rahul Sinha, the BJP’s head in the state, said that the RSS is the “guiding force in a war to win the ancient Hindu soul of India. Muslims are coming from Bangladesh and feasting on our resources,” he said. “New mosques and madrassas have been set up in every corner.”

Uttam Shaha, the new RSS recruit, said, “I had to protect my Hindu roots, they had been threatened. My mission is to make India a Hindu nation.”

By Premji