India, Sept. 22 -- The RSS, formed in 1925, is marking its 100th anniversary on October 22, 2025. Its politics has been Hindutva, and it aims at a Hindu Nation. Its pledge, an oath taken by its volunteers, commits them to remain loyal to the Hindu nation. It set up shakhas at a rapid pace; a shakha (branch) is the basic unit of RSS.

In these shakhas, young boys, initially, and then people of all ages, play Indian games like Kaddadi and Kho-Kho. They are ideologically brainwashed, which is called shakha bauddhik (intellectual session). This training program is pervasive and runs for varying periods. It is an exclusively male organisation; for women, there is a subordinate Rashtra Sevika Samiti. Note the absence of the word swayam (self) h...