Culture and modernity can coexist, says RSS leader Dattatreya Hosabale

New Delhi, Apr 24, 2026 : Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) General Secretary Dattatreya Hosabale has described the RSS as a volunteer-driven movement rooted in India’s cultural and civilisational ethos. Speaking at an interactive session at the New India Conference organised by the Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C., Mr Hosabale said that the RSS views Hindu identity as a civilisational, and not a religious, identity.

Mr Hosabale added that the RSS holds about 83,000 daily meetings to instil a sense of service and inculcate life values aimed at promoting social harmony. The RSS leader said cultural values and modernisation are not necessarily contradictory and can coexist. He emphasised that the coexistence of culture and modernity has been visible in several societies in recent decades.

Highlighting Hindu culture, Mr Hosabale said that Hindu philosophy and culture view the whole world as one family and do not endorse supremacy.