Editing Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (section)

===Involvement with riots===
The RSS has been censured for its involvement in communal riots.

{{Quote box|After giving careful and serious consideration to all the materials that are on record, the Commission is of the view that the RSS with its extensive organisation in Jamshedpur and which had close links with the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh had a positive hand in creating a climate which was most propitious for the outbreak of communal disturbances.

In the first instance, the speech of Shri Deoras (delivered just five days before the Ram Navami festival) tended to encourage the Hindu extremists to be unyielding in their demands regarding Road No.&nbsp;14. Secondly, his speech amounted to communal propaganda. Thirdly, the shakhas and the camps that were held during the divisional conference presented a militant atmosphere to the Hindu public. In the circumstances, the commission cannot but hold the RSS responsible for creating a climate for the disturbances that took place on 11 April 1979.|Jitendra Narayan Commission report on Jamshedpur riots of 1979<ref>{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yB5NM0o3I9QC&pg=PA95 |chapter=An Analytical View of Communal Violence |last1=Shakir |first1=Moin |title=Communal Riots in Post-Independence India |publisher=Sangam Books |access-date=26 January 2011|isbn=978-81-7370-102-3|year=1991|editor-last=Engineer|editor-first=Asgharali |editor-link=Asghar Ali Engineer|edition=2nd}}</ref>{{Relevance inline|discuss=What is the value added by the rather lengthy quote?|date=January 2024}}
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[[Human Rights Watch]], a non-governmental organisation for human rights based in New York, has claimed that the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council, VHP), the Bajrang Dal, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, and the BJP have been party to the [[2002 Gujarat violence|Gujarat violence]] that erupted after the [[Godhra train burning]].<ref name="Corrêa">{{cite book|last1=Corrêa|first1=Sonia|author-link=Sonia Corrêa|title=Sexuality, Health and Human Rights|year=2008|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0415351188|page=67|edition=New|author2=Rosalind Petchesky |author2-link=Rosalind P. Petchesky |author3=Richard Parker |author3-link=Richard G. Parker (anthropologist) }}</ref> Local VHP, BJP, and BD leaders have been named in many police reports filed by eyewitnesses.<ref name="hrw1">{{cite web |url=https://www.hrw.org/en/news/2002/04/29/india-gujarat-officials-took-part-anti-muslim-violence |title=India: Gujarat Officials Took Part in Anti-Muslim Violence |publisher=Human Rights Watch |date=30 April 2002 |access-date=26 January 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101013001213/http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2002/04/29/india-gujarat-officials-took-part-anti-muslim-violence |archive-date=13 October 2010 |url-status=live }}</ref> RSS and VHP claimed that they made appeals to put an end to the violence and that they asked their supporters and volunteer staff to prevent any activity that might disrupt peace.<ref name="rediff02032002">{{Cite web|url=https://www.rediff.com/news/2002/mar/02train10.htm|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20101013065358/http://www.rediff.com/news/2002/mar/02train10.htm|url-status=dead|title=rediff.com: RSS, VHP appeal for peace in Gujarat|archivedate=13 October 2010|website=www.rediff.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.politicsnow.in/illusory-nationalism/|publisher=Politics Now|author=Dipankan Bandopadhyay|access-date=4 December 2016|title=Illusory Nationalism and its woes|date=December 2016}}</ref>