The Shape of the Sangh: Rethinking Hindu Nationalist Organisational Ties

The Indian Hindu nationalist movement is largely sustained by a network, hundreds of organisations strong, linked in greater or lesser degrees to a central organisational node: the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. In this paper I propose a new, critical, definition of this network: That which is constituted by organisational sites through which a central executive may exert authority, (a) through existing institutionalised communication channels, and (b) without coercion. By reconfiguring the analytic focus on this network, which I refer to as the Sangh, from its organisational nodes, to the linkages through which power travels, I propose a new research agenda on this Hindu nationalist organisational network that I argue more clearly identifies the spread, intentions and weaknesses of the far-right in India.