The world must be wondering what kind of political system India has. The country has been ruled by members of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) for 17 years now (i.e. from 1999-2004 and 2014 to 2026) and its influence on the Union government and multiple state governments is visible to all. Yet, the RSS is not a registered body, nor does it have a bank account.In no other democracy would a shadowy organisation that has remained unregistered be in a position to run a country through its political wing.Ironically, it has been allowed to function like this by the Indian National Congress which has ruled India for about 55 years directly or in coalition with others – despite the fact that the Congress saw fit to ban the RSS on no less than three occasions.Contrast the RSS’s lack of any kind of formal registration with Hitler’s Nazi party – formally the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (NSDAP). First registered in 1920 (via an allied body, the NSDAV), the Nazis were banned following a failed coup attempt in 1923 (the Beer Hall Putsch), and then legally re-founded and registered as a political entity in Bavaria in February 1925.What about Benito Mussolini’s Fascist party? The National Fascist Party (Partito Nazionale Fascista) was an officially registered and recognised political body in Italy. Founded by Mussolini in 1919 as a movement, it was officially recognised and registered as a formal political party in November 1921.The record of other Hindu, Muslim and Christian bodies in IndiaIn India, the Hindu Mahasabha, founded in 1907 and reorganised in 1915, formally registered itself under the Societies Registration Act in 1970.Several prominent Muslim educational, religious and political organisations in pre-independence India were formally registered under colonial legal frameworks such as the Societies Registration Act of 1860 or trust laws. Institutions like the Darul Uloom Deoband (1866), Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind (1919) and Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulama (1894) functioned as registered educational and religious bodies with defined administrative structures and legal recognition. Even socio-political organisations such as the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (founded 1941, reorganised post-1947) were registered after independence. Political bodies like the All India Muslim League (founded in 1906) operated within the colonial political system with recognised organisational frameworks. This demonstrates that many major Muslim organisations historically evolved within formal legal structures, registration systems, and institutional accountability mechanisms, rather than functioning outside them.Also read: RSS Claims to be Apolitical. Priyank Kharge’s Letter Seeks to Expose the Lie.Mainline Christian educational, religious and non-governmental organisations in pre-independence India were formally registered under legal frameworks such as the Societies Registration Act, 1860 or various trust laws. Following independence, many national church bodies also obtained legal registration under applicable laws. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India was registered as a society in 1944; the Church of South India in 1947; the Presbyterian Church of India in 1924; the Church of North India in 1970; the Methodist Church in India in 1981; the India Evangelical Lutheran Church in 1958; the United Evangelical Lutheran Churches in India in 1975; and the Council of Baptist Churches in Northeast India in 1950. Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) members take part in a path sanchalan, route march, in Lucknow on June 4, 2026. Photo: PTI/Nand Kumar.The Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church functions under its 1934 Church Constitution, with its trusts registered separately, while the Mar Thoma Syrian Church has operated through registered trust bodies since its reorganisation in 1889. Similarly, the Jacobite Syrian Christian Church has no single national registration, with its dioceses and affiliated institutions registered independently. Likewise, the Baptist Church of Mizoram operates through entities registered under the laws of Mizoram. In the case of the Roman Catholic Church, including the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church and the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, there is no single all-India legal registration, as each diocese, archdiocese, educational institution, charitable society, or trust is registered separately with the relevant civil authorities under the applicable provisions of Indian law. Most of these churches and organisations are registered and operate under the Societies Registration Act, 1860, which provides the legal framework for churches, missions, schools, hospitals, and non-governmental organisations in India. Caste power as source of RSS exceptionalismIn the existing 100-year history of RSS, why has neither the Union government nor any state government raised the issue of its legal and financial accountability or demanded that it produce its accounts? This fundamental rule-of-law question remained unasked by any prime minister or chief minister until a young Dalit home minister of Karnataka, Priyank Kharge, wrote a legally framed letter to Mohan Bhagwat, head of the RSS.The answer lies in the caste system. The RSS was formed by Brahmins with the initial aim of preserving Brahminical interests. After Mahatma Gandhi’s murder by Nathuram Godse, a Brahmin, the RSS was banned for a short time. Later, it befriended the Baniyas – the caste group Gandhi belonged to – who are the main business caste of India.Also read: The RSS Takes Foreign Money Too. Why Doesn’t the Government Question It?The RSS leadership realised that without the support of the Baniya business economy, it could not survive for long. In subsequent years, the Baniya business community became its financial backbone. It is this Brahmin – Baniya alignment which ensured that no government or leader – irrespective of the party in power – ever raised the question of the RSS’s legal status. Of course, it helped that the same caste forces controlled the state structures.In India today, there are other unregistered organisations and parties – the various Naxalite groups come to mind – but they function as underground networks. Such networks are suppressed by all parties, and the RSS/BJP are celebrating how they have almost crushed them.However, the RSS itself remains a source of power that runs many wings of India’s administration without having registered itself, without having a bank account, and without FCRA certification, while allegedly receiving money from foreign sources. Is it not strange?Power without accountabilityIn its defence, the RSS claims that it is a non-governmental organisation. Even then, it is surely obliged, like other NGOS are, are to register and file income tax returns. If it receives foreign funds, it should have FCRA certification. The BJP government is cancelling the FCRA licenses of NGOs at will and freezing their funds. Why does the RSS not face similar scrutiny if its affiliated bodies receive foreign contributions?Did Manmohan Singh and his finance minister P. Chidambaram – who was also home minister for some time – not know about the status of the RSS? Why did Chidambaram not raise the question that Priyank Kharge raised? It was Indira Gandhi who introduced the FCRA system.Also read: ‘Shun the Arrogance, Follow the Law’: Kharge Hits Back at Bhagwat, Calls Out RSS-BJP Link And Chidambaram brought in the rule that the FCRA certification of every organisation must be reviewed once every five years. But they never asked the RSS about its registration or financial transactions within India or abroad. Even during the Emergency, this aspect of the RSS was ignored, though some of its leaders and cadre were imprisoned.What did the erstwhile Communist party run governments in West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura do when they ruled those states for decades? What did Mamata Banerjee do for 15 years? What did the leaders of the Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) do about this fundamental question when they were in power? The RSS was operating in those states and is now capturing them one by one.Mohan Bhagwat is now saying the “RSS is like the Hindu religion. It does not have to register”. If religious bodies do not need registration and bank accounts, why is the RSS/BJP government demanding legal and financial accountability from Christian religious organisations? The same RSS wants ED, CBI, and income tax raids on Congress and regional party networks but avoids any scrutiny of its functioning and finances.Bahujans paying a big priceIt is very clear now that the RSS has no respect for the constitution and rule of law and this is where the real threat to the Shudra/Dalit/Adiavsis masses lies. The latter comprise the real majority of India – and the real majority of Hindus – but they have had no role in formulating the RSS’s policies. Nor could they ever head this organisation during these past 100 years.The Bahujans suffered under the system of Varna dharma which treated what Brahmin pandits declared as law. Mohan Bhagwat is doing the same. The shadowy status of the RSS is more harmful to Shudra/Dalit/Adivasis than even to the minorities, who at least have their spiritually organised national and international structures to defend them. But Shudra/Dalit/Adivasis are under the control of the same Brahminic forces in the name of ‘you too are Hindu’. Also read: In the Name of Ram: How the RSS-VHP Led the Cartelisation of the Trust and Divided Ayodhya’s SeersThe country now faces a situation where an organisation that wields massive influence on Union and state government structures and policies is saying its legal status cannot be questioned. Can India’s democracy – and constitution – survive the supervision of such an organisation?As Ambedkar said, when immoral forces rule, no moral constitution functions. When caste rules with total control, democracy dies a natural death.I am glad that a Dalit – i.e. someone from the group which has suffered the most because of the caste system – has shown leadership on this question and raised the issue with courage and intellectual clarity.Kharge has initiated a national debate in the interest of the nation. The RSS should either register itself and make a full disclosure of its structure and accounts, or else it should stop functioning. Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd is a political theorist, social activist and author. His latest book is The Shudra Rebellion.