When Roseville, a quiet suburb of California’s capital city of Sacramento, platformed and praised the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS) in late 2021, they were not only unaware that HSS is the international wing of India’s Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) paramilitary but also the embarrassment that their act would cause the city. 

On 17 November 2021, the Roseville City Council presented a proclamation to the Greater Sacramento branch of HSS which praised them for celebrating the festival of Diwali by renewing “their commitment to upholding values of truth, non-harming, and restraint through their thoughts, words, and actions.” The irony of applying such words to the HSS must have escaped city officials.

Read at Two Circles.