Narendra Modi is a proud lifelong member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) which is a right-wing paramilitary Hindutva nationalist group "inspired by the fascist movements of Europe," according to award-winning Indian essayist Pankaj Mishra. In a book review for The Guardian newspaper in London, Mishra further noted that the founder of the RSS also believed that Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany "had manifested 'race pride at its highest' by purging the Jews" during World War II.

QUESTION: Pankaj Mishra's characterization of the RSS as fascist-inspired is a contested claim worth verifying against other sources.

XREF: Connects to broader literature on Hindu nationalism and its contested historical relationship with European fascism.

Arsalan Iftikhar, Fear of a Muslim Planet_ Gl…, loc. 185