Similarity heuristics in the Indian far right: How the RSS obscures its operational scale 2024

by FELIX PAL

“Volunteers of the Hindu nationalist organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) take part in a celebration in Ahmedabad, India, on Oct. 7, 2018. According to a report by the National Council of Canadian Muslims and the World Sikh Organization of Canada, the RSS is at the core of a network of groups ‘seeking to remake India into a country run by and for Hindus first at the expense of the country’s dizzying slew of minority groups.'” IMAGE/Amit Dave/Reuters/CBC Radio-Canada

Journal of Right-Wing Studies (2024)

Similarity Heuristics in the Indian Far Right

How the RSS Obscures Its Operational Scale

Felix Pal

School of Social Sciences, University of Western Australia, Boorloo/Perth

Abstract: To conceal their activities, far-right networks manipulate similarity heuristics that suggest their constituent organizations are discrete and coherent. When an organization crafts a public image indicating that only those who wear the same uniforms and march in the same marches are part of an organization, it implies that those who do not, are not. This use of cognitive shortcuts assists far-right organizations in crafting their organizational boundaries to obscure internal divisions of labor. That these disguised internal divisions of labor exist is strong evidence to support a renewed focus on the intra-organizational dynamics of far-right organizations—a focus that pivots from a discursive to a materialist understanding of the far right. I use the case of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), one of the world ’s largest far-right organizations, to argue that similarity heuristics disguise far-right connectivity. Paying granular attention to the organizational boundary-making practices of the RSS demonstrates that the true organizational focus of the RSS is its managerial manifestation, rather than its cadre division, which is just one organization the managerial RSS manages. This key finding suggests that scholars must focus on the mechanics of the managerial RSS over the aesthetic phenomenon of the cadre RSS. Such a focus inevitably leads to a network-centric approach to the Indian far right that better captures the mechanics of its mobilization. Keywords: far right, organizational networks, RSS, Indian politics, Hindu nationalism, covert networksFar-right organizations often face pressure to conceal their activities.1 Where they seek to challenge the status quo, they do so to avoid state scrutiny. Where they seek to reinforce the status quo (e.g., far-right militias tied to ruling parties), they do so to protect the collective legitimacy of their organizational network.

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