Editing Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (section)

=== Comparisons with fascism ===
{{anchor|Accusations of Fascism}}Jaffrelot observes that although the RSS with its paramilitary style of functioning and its emphasis on discipline has sometimes been seen by some as "an Indian version of [[fascism]]",{{sfn|Jaffrelot, Hindu Nationalist Movement|1996|p=51}} he argues that "RSS's ideology treats society as an organism with a secular spirit, which is implanted not so much in the race as in a socio-cultural system and which will be regenerated over the course of time by patient work at the grassroots". He writes that "ideology of the RSS did not develop a theory of the state and the race, a crucial element in European nationalisms: Nazism and Fascism"{{sfn|Jaffrelot, Hindu Nationalist Movement|1996|p=51}} and that the RSS leaders were interested in culture as opposed to racial sameness.{{sfn|Jaffrelot, Hindu Nationalist Movement|1996|pp=57–58}}

The likening of the Sangh Parivar to fascism by Western critics has also been countered by [[Jyotirmaya Sharma]], who labelled it as an attempt by them to "make sense of the growth of extremist politics and intolerance within their society", and that such "simplistic transference" has done great injustice to knowledge of Hindu nationalist politics.<ref>[http://www.hindu.com/br/2005/09/27/stories/2005092700171600.htm Hindu Nationalist Movement] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060527123558/http://www.hindu.com/br/2005/09/27/stories/2005092700171600.htm |date=27 May 2006 }} [[The Hindu]] – 24 September 2005</ref>