Finding the trapdoor shutting on it, after a quasi-official report by a bipartisan US federal government agency, levelled serious charges against it, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has once again donned the mask of moderation and publicly diverged from a key policy of the Union government and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).The moot point however, is whether the restrained utterance is genuine or merely a ploy to return to its low key presence in the United States.The backdrop to this is the recent report of the highly influential United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). It labelled the RSS as the “umbrella organisation” for several dozen affiliate groups and held the ideological clique directly accountable for dubious actions of the Union government and the BJP.The US government is legally not obligated to act on the recommendations, which among others, called for “targeted sanctions” against the RSS and others for their “responsibility and tolerance of severe violations of religious freedom”.But, these suggestions for executive action remain an important talking point globally, more so in the US, given that USCIRF is a bipartisan advisory body created by the Congress.File photo: A man searches for his belongings amid debris after his house was damaged amid military conflict between India and Pakistan, at Uri, in Baramulla district, Jammu and Kashmir on May 9, 2025. Photo: PTI/S. Irfan.Consequently, to underscore a divergence between itself and the Indian government/BJP on crucial Hindutva-driven issues, the RSS has moderated its stance on an issue which plays a crucial role behind the BJP’s electoral dominance – refusal to enter into dialogue with Pakistan and ceaselessly harping that terror and talks cannot go hand in hand.When the RSS general secretary, Dattatreya Hosabale asserted recently that India should reopen closed doors of diplomatic exchanges with Pakistan, the temperate stance was at complete odds with the past when Nagpur-based Big Brother chided its ideological progeny and political affiliate for straying away from the rigid boundaries of Hindutva.Hosabale’s call was in sharp contrast to the Union government’s position of not even initiating Track II talks with Pakistan even after a year of the Pahalgam terrorist strike and consequent Operation Sindoor.Importantly, after the deadly car explosion near the Red Fort in November 2025, the Union government avoided explicitly blaming Pakistan. A cautious approach was deliberately adopted to prevent escalation into another full-blown military conflict in quick succession. The episode revealed the limits of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s new doctrine, of Operation Sindoor being an ongoing exercise regardless of cessation of hostilities. While not heaping accusations on the doors of Islamabad, New Delhi remains firm on not sitting across the table with Pakistan’s officials.Significantly, a media briefing by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) official spokesperson, Randhir Jaiswal on the occasion of the first anniversary of Operation Sindoor, was an instance of verbal sabre-rattling. Jaiswal asserted in the interaction that “”the entire world saw the Pahalgam terrorist attack for what it was. We gave a befitting reply to Pakistan for its sponsorship of cross-border terrorism. The world knows that cross-border terrorism has long been used by Pakistan as an instrument of state policy. We have every right to defend ourselves against terrorism. We will continue to work to strengthen the global fight against terrorism.”Jaiswal was also asked about the continued suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty and he stated that it “stands in abeyance, in response to Pakistan’s sponsorship of cross-border terrorism. Pakistan must credibly and irrevocably abjure its support for cross-border terrorism.”Hosabale’s statement during his interview with news agency PTI was made days after the spokesperson’s affirmation regarding Pakistan and Operation Sindoor. It would not have pleased the BJP leadership that the RSS leader termed terrorist strikes in Pulwama and Pahalgam in 2019 and 2025 as mere “pinpricks”.They would also not have appreciated Hosabale’s call for not closing doors to Islamabad and instead “always be ready to engage them in dialogue.”In well thought out words however, he ensured that the organisation was not seen as unsupportive of India’s retaliation. Hosabale declared that India has to “answer wholesomely according to the situation because the security and self-respect of a country and nation has to be protected” by the government of the day.Yet he added, “trade and commerce goes on. Visas are being given…we should not stop it but because there should be a window always for a dialogue.”Hosabale also advocated people to people contact, especially if academicians, sportspersons and scientists from Pakistan are willing. In such cases, they should be welcomed, the general secretary said. Although diplomatic hostilities continue, he justified such exchanges underscored cultural ties among people because “we have been one nation.” Hosabale also said he would welcome Pakistani people particularly the civil society and various institutions contributing to paving a better relationship. Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale, centre, Suresh Bhaiyyaji Joshi, right, and others during the ‘Karyakarta Vikas Varga Dwitiya’, in Nagpur, Maharashtra on May 23, 2026. Photo: PTI.Hosabale’s deviance on dialogue with Pakistan has to be framed within the context of the RSS being held accountable for actions of the Union government as well as the BJP and other affiliates. In the USCIRF report the RSS is clubbed alongside government bodies like the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), for their alleged role in severe religious freedom violations. This is particularly awkward because of the controversy in the US over India’s intelligence agency actions in recent years.Being accused of being hand in glove with the R&AW would have worried the RSS leadership no end because its carefully constructed global image of being a non-governmental and a volunteer cultural organisation was invalidated with such association.Prior to 2014, the RSS did not display a coherent worldview. Its activities abroad was limited to mobilising support for various campaigns of the Sangh Parivar, chiefly, Ayodhya, abrogation of Article 370 and roll-out of Uniform Civil Code.Post 2014, global engagement with BJP increased because its parliamentary majority made it being perceived as a more potent political force than the party and government under Vajpayee. The development also resulted in the spotlight being turned on the RSS and being seen as the BJP’s ideological mentor and agent provocateur for some questionable actions of the Indian state. Hosabale’s efforts and lobbying by the RSS are aimed at neutralising such classification.The 2026 report of the USCIRF is a distilled follow up of its ‘Issue Update’ on ‘Systematic Religious Persecution in India’, released in November 2025. In this, intersection of the RSS, the BJP, and reports on religious freedom was a focal point of intense scrutiny. For the USCIRF, the issue of freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) is paramount.Importantly, the report concluded that although India offered “some constitutional protections for FoRB, India’s political system facilitates a climate of discrimination toward religious minority communities.”It added that the “interconnected relationship between the RSS and BJP further allows for the creation and enforcement of several discriminatory pieces of legislation, including citizenship, anti-conversion, and cow slaughter laws.”Such laws, “disproportionately targets and impacts religious minorities and their ability to freely practice their religion or belief,” the Issue Update stated.The Union government released a point-by-point rebuttal shortly after the USCIRF’s report in March 2026. The RSS however, adopted a different strategy. Aware that its image in the US was increasingly being pinned as a deeply influential, ideological and sectarian political force, the RSS leadership embarked on refurbishing its global image.Also read: ‘Under US Pressure’: RSS Leader’s Call for Dialogue With PakistanAs part of its outreach, Hosabale, along with several individuals, ensconced in the Hindu majoritarian eco-system – highlighted the organisation’s diverse social capital and its role in disaster relief, character building and developing civilisational perspectives.Hosabale contended during an interaction with a noted US scholar, in a seminar hosted by an American institution, that the RSS is not an Indian version of the Ku Klux Klan, the American white supremacist group. He also claimed that neither the RSS, nor the Hindu community is chauvinistic.With these claims being followed up by the interview with PTI, a question arises if this can be termed ‘divergence’ between the RSS and the Modi government, or is it more likely a ‘tactical division’ of labor or deliberate calibrated shift between the ideological core and the executive branch of the government?Hosabale’s terming of Pulwama and Pahalgam terrorist strikes as ‘pinpricks’ may lead many to conclude that indeed the approach of the two is different. But, a more plausible argument would be that the RSS statement enables India to speak in two voices.Such tactics provide the window to ideological hardliners to turn pacifists, while the government, now surer than ever before of its electoral hegemony, can adopt a stentorian stance on core Hindutva issues. It is a different matter that RSS efforts at distancing itself from majoritarian policies, may not find many takers in the US and other countries that have noted the erasure of lines of separation between the RSS, the Union government and the BJP.Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay is a journalist and author whose books include Narendra Modi: The Man, The Times and The RSS: Icons of the Indian Right.