Many people have attempted to decipher the cryptic formula that Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has used, not only to get to power through its political wing – the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – but also to entrench its roots and spread its presence all over the country. The phenomenal success has been attributed to a Frankenstinial concoction of fanaticism, strategy and currency.

However, such a mix is not new to Indian politics. Then, what is the true gimmick? The RSS has itself been very vocal about the reason for its success. Yet, since it's simple, it becomes impossible to believe it. This article is a humble attempt to decode the enigma that is the RSS. The writer understands that this may be labeled as oversimplification, and even obfuscation of facts. However, this is just a common person’s perspective, who has enough reasons to believe that she is rational enough. And as they say, the world looks different from mighty towers, the lay of the ground can be felt only if you take a walk.

The BJP victory in Tripura and the Pratinidhi Sabha in Nagpur had given rise to a lot of speculations. The media coverage was more of a fiction, skirting the realm of facts. Through all this din, the RSS held its meetings, made its decisions and declared the simplicity of its working for all to see. To any question about its working and the tremendous success it has gathered, they give just one answer – it is our swayamsevak, who has done this.

The problem is, in a political and even the social world, where the personality overshadows the work, and the leader usurps the credit of the team, it is quite unbelievable to understand this simple statement that has been reiterated for 92 years now. It is the swayamsevak.

We, in India, of the person-centric credo, find it very difficult to understand any other form of organisational structure. Our historical view in general is personality based, rather than about the ideas and systems that are our true legacy. Hence we divide history into the era of Chandragupta Maurya, Ashoka, Buddha, Akbar, Aurangzeb and Shivaji, easily forgetting the cultural, social, political systems they created, the ideas they generated, and the culture that came forth from the churning. We forget that the era of Chandragupta was the era of establishment of a benevolent empire, by overthrowing the autocrat, the period where polity and administration were academically established – the era of Arthashastra. Ashoka became great because he gave the world the idea of dhamma and peace; one of the greatest contributions of Akbar was the taxation system; Shivaji upheld the right of self-rule while establishing an exemplary administrative system and displaying one of the finest systems of war strategy and diplomacy.

We compartmentalise our great leaders, undermine their ideas while holding on to their identities – the culmination is incidents like the Bhima Koregaon. This trait has become stronger in contemporary history; it is more relatable and more effective. Our politics has been dominated by a party that began as a movement that gave voice to millions of faceless Indians, but has become the greatest propagator of personality cult post Independence.

For a people plagued by the personality cult syndrome, it is difficult to understand an organisation that runs on a very different value system. As the second chief of the organisation, Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar, the second sarsanghachalak of the RSS stated,