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In 1987, when former US State Department official Walter Andersen co-authored a seminal book with Shridhar Damle titled The Brotherhood in Saffron, few practitioners of Indian politics and its analyses gave much thought to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and its affiliates. The book stood apart from hagiographic biographies and all-endorsing essays written by either “insiders” or people within the Hindu nationalistic ecosystem. During those year, non-supporters viewed the RSS with suspicion for its leaders’ alleged role in Mahatma Gandhi's assassination or whenever inquisitions were conducted after communal riots, a regular feature of Indian politics.
Over the years, the RSS
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