meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
The Audio Long Read

‘Nobody knows what I know’: how a loyal RSS member abandoned Hindu nationalism

The Audio Long Read

The Guardian

Society & Culture

4.22.5K Ratings

🗓️ 2 September 2024

⏱️ 30 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

As a young man, Partha Banerjee was on course to become a senior member of the RSS, the organisation that has pushed Indian politics towards extreme religious nationalism. Then, after decades within its ranks, he quit. Why? By Rahul Bhatia. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

This is the Guardian. sponsors of Paralympics GB and here's Oliver Lamb Watson, wheelchair fencer for Great Britain.

0:16.0

I started fencing after my doctor told me,

0:18.0

No, you'll never be an athlete. And I thought, watch me.

0:21.0

Now when I want to start something new, I start on Tik-Tok. Like recently I search for

0:26.0

pasta recipes. It started with a simple sauce. Now I'm making my own spaghetti from scratch.

0:31.2

It's easy when I can cook along to the TikTok video.

0:33.8

Search Paralympic TB on TikTok and follow the journey to Paris.

0:37.1

It starts on TikTok. Hey, it's Mike here, one of the hosts of The Guardians Award Winning Daily News Podcast, today in focus.

0:51.0

Every weekday morning, we bring you a single story going beyond the headlines and taking you closer to the Guardian's global journalism.

0:58.0

Combining personal storytelling with analysis, we take you inside the stories that matter most. Listen wherever you get your

1:05.2

podcasts.

1:06.5

Welcome to the Guardian Long Reed, showcasing the best long-form journalism covering culture, politics and

1:15.2

new thinking.

1:16.2

For the text version of this and all our Long Reads, go to the Guardian.com forward slash

1:20.4

Long Reed. long read.

1:27.0

Nobody knows what I know. How a loyal RSS member abandoned Hindu nationalism by Raaul Bhatya.

1:37.0

Running a finger over a row of books in a Delhi library one afternoon, I stopped at a title that promised danger.

1:48.0

The stacks were abundant in books like RSS and is RSS the enemy which often turned out to be

1:57.7

self-published polemics that were too long however short they were. This one was different. On its front was the full title.

2:07.6

In the belly of the Beast, the Hindu supremacist RSS with rising giddiness. Not long after I was beside a seek gentleman at his photocopying machine.

2:28.0

What pages? he asked.

2:30.0

Everything, I said.

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Guardian, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Guardian and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.