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zations, but all of their most active militants have gone through the
RSS’s training program. India’s government, opposition parties, military

personnel, and security forces draw a majority of their personnel from a
pool of RSS militants. At the top of the list of these militants come Atal
Bihari Vajpayee, who recently served as prime minister, and his Cabinet.
The RSS was founded by Keshav Baliram Hedgewar in 1925 and
bears a striking resemblance with the earlier fascist organizations of Italy
and Germany. This resemblance was not the only connection to Europe’s
fascists. One of the RSS founders, BS Moonje, went to Italy and was

briefed by the Mussolini government. The Italian investigative writer
Marzia Casolari, known for his research on Hinduism, documented the
close relationship between the elite of the RSS and the Mussolini regime
in great detail in his work titled “Hindutva’s Foreign Tie-up in the 1930s
– Archival Evidence”. According to Casolari, representatives of the
Mussolini regime and extreme Hindu nationalists had many meetings.
The formation of the RSS, the formulation of its ideology, the establish-
ing of its framework, and the strengthening of its youth training camps
were all inspired by Mussolini’s Italy. 71
The RSS turned to military training soon after its formation, much

like its Italian and German counterparts. . Mussolini’s quasi-military
“Black-Shirts” and Hitler’s SA (Sturmabteilung -Storm Units) provided
the blueprint and the new organization was named “Shakha”. Skakha’s
sprung up across India. Six and seven year old children were trained to
become fascist militants against the “enemy” (i.e., Muslims and
Christians) and would ultimately serve as the nucleus for a fascist army.
Mussolini’s social Darwinist statements, and the Fascists twisted out-

look, such as “established peace is damaging and only warfare can bring
out the best of human power”, were held in high esteem among the
members of the RSS.

Islam And Far Eastern Religions