Talk by Harsh Mander (PhD), Semester Welcoming Reception and Film Screening 100 Years of the RSS
- Monday, 13. October 2025, 14:15 - 20:00
- CATS, Building 4010, Great Lecture Hall, 010.01.05
- Harsh Mander (PhD)
The RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh), the ideological lodestar of the ruling Modi-led Bhartiya Janta Party in India, completes a hundred years this October since its founding. It has grown today into the largest paramilitary cadre-based civil society organisation in the world.
This talk will describe the ideological moorings of the RSS. Hindutva, the founding core ideology of the RSS, is a belief system founded on militant and supremacist political Hinduism. The talk will explore the beliefs of the early icons of Hindutva - Savarkar, Hegdewar and Golwarkar - and their declared ideological affinity to Nazi Germany and Mussolini’s fascism. The talk will reflect on how, for the century since its formation, the RSS has stood aloof from the battle against British colonialism, and in bitter conflict with both the values of the freedom struggle and the core ideas and morality of the constitution. It seeks to build a Hindu India and is profoundly hostile to India’s Muslims and Christians. It denies them equal belonging and citizenship in the Indian nation. The talk will reflect on the reality that the Indian republic today is ruled by people deeply committed to the Hindutva ideology, and the ways that they are transforming the secular democratic character of the Indian state, and age-old social relations of trust and goodwill between communities.
This Talk is followed by a reception and a film screening.
Date: Monday, 13 October, 2025
Time: 14:15 – 15:45, CET
Location: CATS, Building 4010, Great Lecture Hall, 010.01.05
Reception with food and drinks, 16:00 – 17:00 in front of Room 130.00.02
Film screening of “Mahanagar” (The Big City) by Satyajit Ray, 17:00 – 20:00
This event is also part of a Film Festival titled “India through Cinema”. For more details and film screenings see here.
Address
CATS, Building 4010, Great Lecture Hall, 010.01.05
Event Type
Colloquium
Event Homepage
About the Speaker
Harsh Mander (PhD) is involved in different initiatives related to human rights. From the autumn of 2017 he established and led the national initiative “Karwan-e-Mohabbat”, literally, “the Caravan of Love” . The initiative tries to counter rising hate and fear in the country, but not with hate; instead with love and solidarity. The Karwan visits the families of those who lost loved ones to hate violence and lynching, for atonement, solidarity, healing, conscience and justice, and to promote goodwill and trust between communities. Dr Mander was shortlisted for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022 and is the Chairperson of the Centre for Equity Studies, Delhi.