RSS featured as 'threat group' on US-based Terrorism Watch list

Submitted by TwoCircles.net on 17 December 2014 - 11:39am

By M Reyaz, TwoCircles.net,

New Delhi: A US-based risk management and consulting company has put the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in its category of 'Threat Group' and called it "a shadowy, discriminatory group that seeks to establish a Hindu Rashtra, a Hindu Nation."

Terrorism Watch & Warning provides intelligence, research, analysis, watch and warning on international terrorism and domestic terrorism related issues; and is operated by OODA Group LLC that helps clients identify, manage, and respond to global risks and uncertainties while exploring emerging opportunities and developing robust and adaptive strategies for the future.

Although the company had included RSS in its 'Threat Group' in April 2014, the post seems to have been modified after the BJP led government assumed power at the Centre. Apart from the RSS, Terrorism Watch has also put Naxalites, People's Liberation Army (PLA) and Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) among others in the category of 'Threat Group'.

The websites describes: "The RSS is a shadowy, discriminatory group that seeks to establish a Hindu Rashtra, a Hindu Nation. The group is considered the radical ideological parent group of India's ruling Hindu nationalist party – the Indian Peoples Party (BJP)."

"The RSS is a Hindu nationalist movement, a right wing group that was founded in 1925. Their philosophy, called Hindutva, was termed fascist by Communists, and their main demand of the central government was that it stop appeasing Muslims," the description continues, adding, "Hindutva has been translated to mean variously: Hindu pride, patriotism, fundamentalism, revivalism, chauvinism, or fascism. The group self-justifies by 'asserting the natural rights'."

In its 'Intel analysis,' it further adds, "The RSS was banned in 1948 following the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi by an ex-RSS member, Nathuram Godse. The ban was lifted the following year. Since then, the group has gained popularity. It later began the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), widely considered the political arm of the RSS, which now heads the central government of India."

File photo for representation purpose(Courtesy: islamtsf.files.wordpress.com)

Describing violence as 'Group Activities' for the RSS, the site further says, "Violence has been a strategy for the Sangh movement. It is often couched as a method of self-defense against minority groups. Hindutva has been clear about the need for violence, particularly communal riots. The Sangh has incited rioting to cause further chasms between religions, and thus a further separation of religions, and to rally the Hindu community around the philosophy of Hindutva."

The Terrorism Watch & Warning database contains over 1,00,000 Open source intelligence (OSINT) excerpts from 1999 to present on terrorism and security related issues, attack database of over 10,000 attacks, original terrorism analysis, terrorism document repository, Homeland Security Fact Sheets and profiles over 500 Terrorist/Threat Groups.