Editing Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (section)

===Opposition to the National Flag of India===
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh initially did not recognise the Tricolor as the National [[Flag of India]]. The RSS-inspired publication, the ''Organiser'',<ref>{{cite news|url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/double-standards-rss-chiefs-used-to-relish-chicken-mutton-dishes/articleshow/48166147.cms|title=Double Standards? RSS chiefs used to relish chicken, mutton dishes|newspaper=The Economic Times|date=22 July 2015|last1=Kumar|first1=Krishna}}</ref> demanded, in an editorial titled "National Flag", that the ''[[Bhagwa Dhwaj]]'' be adopted as the National Flag of India.{{sfn|Shamsul Islam, Religious Dimensions|2006|p=56}} After the Tricolor was adopted as the National Flag by the [[Constituent Assembly of India]] on 22 July 1947, the ''Organiser'' viciously attacked the Tricolor and the Constituent Assembly's decision. In an article titled "Mystery behind the ''Bhagwa Dhwaj''", the ''Organiser'' stated:{{sfn|Shamsul Islam, Religious Dimensions|2006|p=57}}<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gx5R9D_JpQEC&pg=PA9 |title=RSS Primer: Based on Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh Documents |publisher=Pharos Media & Publishing |year=2010 |isbn=978-81-7221-039-7 |pages=9– |access-date=13 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170114075115/https://books.google.com/books?id=Gx5R9D_JpQEC&pg=PA9 |archive-date=14 January 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref> 
{{Blockquote|The people who have come to power by the kick of fate may give in our hands the Tricolor but it [will] never be respected and owned by Hindus. The word three is in itself an evil, and a flag having three colours will certainly produce a very bad psychological effect and is injurious to a country.||source=}} In an essay titled "Drifting and Drafting" published in ''[[Bunch of Thoughts]]'', Golwalkar lamented the choice of the Tricolor as the National Flag and compared it to an intellectual vacuum/void. In his words:{{sfn|Golwalkar; Bunch of Thoughts|1966|pp=237–238}}<ref name="auto">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gx5R9D_JpQEC&pg=PA10 |title=RSS Primer: Based on Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh Documents |publisher=Pharos Media & Publishing |year=2010 |isbn=978-81-7221-039-7 |pages=10–}}</ref>{{sfn|Shamsul Islam, Religious Dimensions|2006|p=186}}{{sfn|Puniyani, Religion, Power and Violence|2005|p=142}}

{{Blockquote|Our leaders have set up a new flag for the country. Why did they do so? It just is a case of drifting and imitating ... Ours is an ancient and great nation with a glorious past. Then, had we no flag of our own? Had we no national emblem at all these thousands of years? Undoubtedly we had. Then why this utter void, this utter vacuum in our minds.|}} The RSS hoisted the National Flag of India at its Nagpur headquarters only twice, on 14 August 1947 and on 26 January 1950, but stopped doing so after that.<ref name="TricolorRSS2002">{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Tri-colour hoisted at RSS center after 52 yrs |url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/pune/Tri-colour-hoisted-at-RSS-HQ-after-52-yrs/articleshow/1561733136.cms |newspaper=The Times of India |location=Nagpur |date=26 January 2002 |access-date=26 January 2002 }}</ref> This issue has always been a source of controversy. In 2001 three activists of ''Rashtrapremi Yuwa Dal{{snd}}'' president Baba Mendhe, and members Ramesh Kalambe and Dilip Chattani, along with others{{snd}}allegedly entered the RSS headquarters in Reshimbagh, Nagpur, on 26 January, the [[Republic Day (India)|Republic Day]] of India, and forcibly hoisted the national flag there amid patriotic slogans. They contended that the RSS had never before or after independence, ever hoisted the Tricolor in their premises. Offences were registered by the Bombay Police against the trio, who were then jailed. They were discharged by the court after eleven years in 2013.<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Activists, who forcibly hoisted flag at RSS premises, freed |url=http://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/activists-who-forcibly-hoisted-flag-at-rss-premises-freed-113081400451_1.html |newspaper=Business Standard |location=Nagpur |date=14 August 2013 |access-date=14 August 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.nagpurtoday.in/trio-who-forcibly-hoisted-tri-colour-at-rss-premise-set-free-by-court/08141440|title=Trio, who forcibly hoisted tri-colour at RSS premises, set free by court|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|date=14 August 2013|newspaper=Nagpur Today|access-date=14 August 2013|location=Nagpur}}{{dead link  |date=May 2018}}</ref> The arrests and the flag-hoisting issue stoked a controversy, which was raised in the Parliament as well. Hoisting of the flag was very restrictive until the formation of the [[flag code of India]] (2002).<ref>{{cite web|title=rediff.com Special: Naveen Jindal battles for his right to fly the Tricolour|url=https://www.rediff.com/news/2001/jun/13spec.htm|work=Rediff.com|access-date=3 April 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Hoisting tricolour a fundamental right: SC|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Hoisting-tricolour-a-fundamental-right-SC/articleshow/442578.cms|website=The Times of India|date=24 January 2004 |access-date=3 April 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Mohan Bhagwat defies restraint, hoists flag in Kerala school: Why RSS did not fly Tricolour for 52 years – Firstpost|url=https://www.firstpost.com/india/mohan-bhagwat-defies-restraint-hoists-flag-in-kerala-school-why-rss-did-not-fly-tricolour-for-52-years-2633006.html|website=firstpost.com|date=15 August 2017|access-date=3 April 2018}}</ref> Subsequently, in 2002, the National Flag was raised in the RSS headquarters on Republic Day for the first time in 52 years.<ref name=TricolorRSS2002/>