Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday praised the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) during his Independence Day address from the Red Fort, hailing its 100-year journey and describing it as the “largest NGO” in the world.
“A hundred years ago, a movement was born, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). For a century, this organisation has dedicated itself to the welfare of the nation. Through service, dedication, organisation, and unparalleled discipline, the RSS has played a unique role in nation-building. In a way, the RSS is the biggest NGO of the world. It has a history of 100 years of dedication,” Modi said.
Founded in 1925 by Keshav Baliram Hedgewar in Nagpur, the RSS marks its centenary year in 2025. Initially starting as a small shakha (daily gathering) to promote discipline, unity, and cultural nationalism, the organisation has grown into what it calls the world’s largest voluntary organisation, with lakhs of swayamsevaks (volunteers) across India and abroad.
Over the decades, the RSS has been involved in social service, education, rural development, disaster relief, and ideological mobilisation. It played a key role in forming several affiliate organisations, collectively known as the Sangh Parivar, including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), and Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).
{{/usCountry}}Over the decades, the RSS has been involved in social service, education, rural development, disaster relief, and ideological mobilisation. It played a key role in forming several affiliate organisations, collectively known as the Sangh Parivar, including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), and Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).
{{/usCountry}}Addressing a gathering at the RSS office in Bhubaneswar on the occasion of Independence Day, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat noted that Indians should not be complacent about independence, adding that they need to do hard work and make sacrifices to keep it "alive".
"Our ancestors ensured India's Independence by making supreme sacrifices... We too need to be as hardworking to keep it alive and to make the country self-confident and emerge as 'Vishwa Guru' (global leader) to guide the world engaged in quarrel," he said.
PM Narendra Modi hails success of Operation Sindoor
Modi on Friday in his address to the nation on the 79th Independence Day, hailed the success of Operation Sindoor and saluted the role of the armed forces who targeted terror sites in Pakistan. The operation, he said, was an expression of India's outrage at the Pahalgam terrorist attack in which “husbands were killed in front of their wives and fathers were killed in front of their children after asking their religion”.
"I am very proud that from the ramparts of the Red Fort, I am getting the opportunity to salute the heroes of Operation Sindoor. Our brave jawans punished the enemy beyond its imagination," Modi said.
"On 22nd April, terrorists from across the border came to Pahalgam and killed people after asking their religion...Entire India was outraged, and the entire world was shocked by such a massacre. Operation Sindoor is the expression of that outrage," he added.
The PM said after the Pahalgam attack, the government had given a free hand to the armed forces to respond to the attack.