Fact Check: Has RSS Extended Support To INDIA Bloc For 2024 General Polls?

With not even a month left for Lok Sabha elections 2024, a video showing a press conference under the banner of one 'Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh' is circulating on social media. The video claims that the Bharatiya Janata Party's parent organization, RSS, has extended its support to the multi-party Opposition coalition, Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), for the upcoming general elections.

In the viral video, a person named Janardhan Moon says that to defeat the BJP, they have pledged their support to the INDIA bloc. The video has been shared on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter), with an X post gaining over 300,000 views and 6,600 likes at the time of writing. An archived version of one such post can be accessed here.

However, the claim is misleading. The video doesn't show the BJP's ideological parent, the RSS, but a namesake organization, which is different from the body founded by Dr. Keshav Baliram Hedgewar in September 1925.

How did we find the truth?

We noticed that the logo in the top-right corner of the video read "Awaaz India". Taking a cue from this, we found that the entire press conference was published on a YouTube channel named 'AWAAZ INDIA TV' on March 24.

The video is titled 'Nagpur: RSS supported Congress, created uproar across the country PC of RSS Chief Janardan Moon, Abdul Pasha (sic)'. The viral clip runs from the 0:35 mark to the 2:55-minute timeframe of the 12-minute-long original footage.

Upon further research, we found that this Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, led by Janardhan Moon, has no relation to the RSS, which forms a part of the 'Sangh Parivar'-a collective of several right-wing organizations. The latter has been under the leadership of Mohan Mohan Bhagwat for over two decades.

RSS vs RSS

According to a report by The Times of India dated January 22, 2019, the Bombay High Court rejected the plea filed by Janardhan Moon, a social worker, to register a non-proft named 'Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)'. The court stated that a society of the same name was already in existence, dismissing the plea.

Reports said that Janardhan Moon had already formed an organization named 'Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)' in 2017 and declared himself as its president. The organization had also unsuccessfully applied online for registration with the Nagpur Charity Commissioner in September 2017 before going to the high court.

Meanwhile, the original Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh was established by Dr. Keshav Baliram Hedgewar in 1925 in Nagpur, and Mohan Bhagwat was appointed as the Sarsanghchalak, or head of the organization, in 2009.

While the RSS led by Janardhan Moon and the RSS led by Mohan Bhagwat have the same name and spelling, they have distinct logos.

Furthermore, neither Mohan Bhagwat nor the RSS have made any announcement extending their support to the INDIA bloc in the upcoming polls.

RSS figures call out namesake organization

Organiser, the weekly publication seen as the Mohan Bhagwat-led RSS' mouthpiece, took to X on March 26 to call out the namesake organization as "FAKE RSS".

Logically Facts reached out to RSS leader Dr. Manmohan Vaidya, who forwarded an official statement from the current spokesperson of the right-wing organization, Sunil Ambedkar. In the statement, Ambedkar hit out at Janardhan Moon, saying, "He is still trying to misguide people. So his actions will be challenged soon with the police and also with social media companies to remove related posts and videos."

We found that Rakesh Panday, who is the National Social Media & IT in-charge of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), an offshoot of the RSS, also took to X to call the namesake organization 'fake', further questioning the intention behind registering itself in the name of the existing RSS

The verdict

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), led by Mohan Bhagwat, has not extended its support to the INDIA bloc for the 2024 general election. A video of a leader from a different organization of the same name, with no relation to the original RSS, pledging their support to the opposition coalition, is being shared with this misleading claim.

This story was originally published by Logically Facts, and republished by NDTV as part of the Shakti Collective.