How a Self-Styled Cultural Guardian Ended Up Sharing a Lobby Firm with Pakistan
In the theatre of Indian nationalism the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh loves
to posture as the eternal sentinel of Bharat, the grand custodian of culture,
the loudest opponent of foreign influence and the sworn ideological enemy of
Pakistan. For a century its public voice has been steeped in the politics of
purity. Its image relies on projecting a moral fortress that defies Western
pressure and rejects any compromise with forces that it claims threaten the
nation. That is why the recent revelations from the United States lobbying
disclosure records strike at the very core of the Sangh story. For buried
inside those filings is a fact that even the most loyal pracharak cannot spin
away. The RSS has been linked to a United States lobby firm that has also
carried out government related work for Pakistan. The same Pakistan that the
Sangh calls an eternal adversary. The same Pakistan that its leaders invoke in
every election speech to stoke fear and consolidate votes.
To understand the gravity of this moment we must step back and examine the
contradiction. The RSS has always insisted that it is a cultural organisation,
that it engages in moral upliftment and national awakening rather than
political power seeking. Yet political power follows it like a shadow. Its
pracharaks become chief ministers, cabinet ministers, governors and
strategists. Its worldview shapes the ruling party. Its directives influence
legislation. Despite this enormous influence the Sangh maintains the fiction
that it stands outside the corridors of power. But when a foreign lobbying firm
in Washington formally registers work that mentions the RSS as the beneficiary,
that fiction tears apart.
The filings show work aimed at United States India bilateral relations, a
bland phrase used to cover the art of influence. These disclosures reveal that
the lobby firm was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in twenty twenty five.
What makes this episode even more shocking is that the same firm has also been
recorded as representing interests related to Pakistan. The result is a surreal
scene. The guardian of Indian nationalism and the political establishment of
Pakistan walking through the same door of the same United States influence
shop. The RSS can chant nationalism every morning but the paperwork in
Washington tells another story.
The Sangh leadership rushed to issue a denial. It claimed that it had not
hired any firm and that it works only within Bharat. But the denial raises more
questions than answers. If the RSS did not hire the firm directly then who did.
Why would an intermediary pay for lobbying that benefits the Sangh if not at
the Sangh direction. Why would the name of the RSS appear in the official
filing at all. Lobby firms do not invent clients for entertainment. These
filings are made under penalty of law. Someone used the name and someone
expected influence in Washington. It is this cloak and dagger style that
exposes the deeper character of the organisation. In public the Sangh poses as
a moral guardian. In private it appears quite comfortable with the most
transactional form of foreign influence.
Even more disturbing is what this lobbying aims to achieve. The
international image of the Sangh has taken a beating in recent years. Reports
of rising attacks on minorities, shrinking democratic space and aggressive
majoritarian politics have tarnished its reputation. Western lawmakers, global
rights bodies and academic institutions have grown increasingly vocal about the
ideological violence that shadows the Sangh worldview. By turning to a United
States lobby firm the organisation seems desperate to manage this global
perception. This is not outreach. This is sanitisation. It is an attempt to
soften criticism abroad even as the same politics hardens at home.
The Pakistan angle further destroys the nationalist halo. For decades the
RSS has used Pakistan as the central villain in its story. Every criticism of
its politics is dismissed as anti national. Every electoral speech draws a line
between patriots and Pakistan sympathisers. Yet when it comes to foreign
lobbying the Sangh and Pakistan appear as clients of the same influence
factory. What does that say about the purity of the nationalism that the Sangh
sells to its followers. What does it say about the loud sermons of swadeshi and
cultural pride. The truth is simple. When power is at stake the Sangh is
willing to cross oceans, hire foreign consultants and share a corridor with the
very forces it demonises at home.
This revelation also exposes the hypocrisy behind the constant attack on
Indian activists scholars and organisations that engage with global
institutions. The Sangh and its ecosystem regularly brand them as foreign
agents or anti national voices for speaking to international bodies. Yet here
we see the Sangh linked to foreign lobbying of the most elite kind. Not for
justice. Not for rights. But for image management. When civil society reaches
out to global institutions it is painted as disloyal. When the Sangh does it
through expensive lobby firms it becomes strategic diplomacy.
There is also a deeper danger. When domestic political organisations turn
to undisclosed foreign influence networks they open the door to quiet
bargaining that bypasses public scrutiny. In a democracy influence must remain
transparent. If the Sangh or its affiliates seek foreign lobbying to reinforce
their political narrative, the citizens of India deserve to know. They deserve
transparency not shadowy denials. They deserve honesty not patriotic slogans
used as camouflage.
The Sangh thrives on moral absolutism. It insists that its worldview is
pure, uncompromised and rooted in civilisational pride. But the Washington
filings show a very different face. They show an organisation that is fully
aware of its declining global legitimacy. They show an organisation that is
willing to pay or allow intermediaries to pay large sums to soften that
decline. They show an organisation that has mastered the art of public
nationalism and private convenience.
The saga of the RSS and the United States lobby firm is not just about
paperwork or money. It is about truth. It is about the gap between what the
Sangh preaches and what it practices. It is about the collapse of the high
moral ground that it claims to occupy. When a self proclaimed cultural guardian
and a geopolitical adversary like Pakistan end up using the same foreign lobby
channels, the entire narrative of ideological purity collapses. This episode
stands as a reminder that loud nationalism can hide quiet desperation. And that
the strongest slogans often belong to those who most fear scrutiny.
References
1.
United States Lobbying
Disclosure Act filings for Squire Patton Boggs
2.
Reports on the RSS
related lobbying by Prism and other investigative platforms
3.
Public statements and
denials issued by RSS spokespersons
4.
Reports on Squire Patton
Boggs engagements with Pakistan related interests
5.
Analysis by independent
policy and legal observers on foreign influence activity in Washington
Author Introduction
The author Siddhartha
Shankar Mishra is an Advocate at the Supreme Court of India and writes
frequently on law politics and society with a sharp critical and rights based
perspective. He can be reached at ssmishra33@gmail.com.
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