A new organisation, RSS Friends registered with the US Department of Justice (DoJ) on August 27 as a foreign agent representing the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), despite the RSS’ previous assertions that it does not lobby in the US.
The newly registered group also disclosed that its work will remain primarily informational, but that it does not have a written employment or lobbying contract with the RSS with specified compensation and deliverables. RSS spokesperson Sunil Ambekar didn’t respond to queries seeking comment despite multiple reminders.
In its filings with the DoJ, RSS Friends explicitly listed the RSS as its “foreign principal” along with the address of the organisation’s new headquarters in Delhi’s Keshav Kunj.
It is also not clear when the current version of the website was launched. RSS Friends’ Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) filing came just days before RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat held a major rally at Madison Square Garden in New York. The RSS, celebrating its centenary this year, is the ideological fount of the Bharatiya Janata Party. “RSS Friends’ proposed activities are primarily informational, educational, public-relations, and community-engagement activities. Consistent with its governing documents and applicable law, it may communicate with members of the public, journalists, media organisations, researchers, academic and policy institutions, community leaders, civil-society organisations, and, where appropriate, government agencies or officials,” the filing reads. It added: “The absence of a written contract should not be understood as a representation that no relationship, request, understanding, coordination, authorisation, direction, or other relevant factual connection exists. RSS Friends will disclose the actual facts relevant to its activities. The new registration follows a prolonged controversy over the RSS’ lobbying in the United States. To be sure, the RSS categorically denied reports that it hired lobbyists in America. The registration of RSS Friends coincides with a systematic effort by the RSS to enhance its outreach to the United States. Prior to Mohan Bhagwat’s visit in August this year, the organisation’s second-in-command Dattatreya Hosabale undertook a multi-day tour of America in April.
It is not clear how old the organisation is, but the rssfriends.org websie was first registered in 2017. Subsequent disclosures filed with the US DoJ showed that Squire Patton Boggs had been paid $330,000 for its work on behalf of the RSS in 2025. Squire Patton Boggs subsequently disclosed its contract was terminated on September 30, 2025. The matter caused a significant political controversy in India in late 2025.
RSS Friends’ website provides more detail about its objectives, which tend to revolve around correcting “misconceptions about the RSS” pushed by “politically motivated actors” that have created “negative repercussions for the Indian diaspora, particularly Hindu Americans. In November 2025, news outlet Prism reported that elite lobbying firm Squire Patton Boggs was hired to “introduce the RSS to US officials” through State Street Strategies, another lobbying outfit. “This is hardly the first time that the RSS has betrayed national interest,” Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said in response to the matter at the time. This was explained by Hosabale as an effort to interact with “influential opinion makers” in Western nations to communicate the RSS’ mission and objectives.
