Thread by @MeghnadBose93

🚨 EXCLUSIVE: The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), India’s largest Hindu far-right organization, initiated a well-funded lobbying effort in the U.S. earlier this year. The RSS did so without being listed as a foreign entity, in violation of lobbying disclosure requirements, our investigation has found.

Reporting with @BiplobKumarDas for @prismreports

The RSS’s lobbying efforts in the U.S. raise questions about how the RSS has been able to conduct its activities without identifying as a foreign entity or without their lobbyists registering under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).

Full report: prismreports.org/2025/11/12/rss…

In the lobbying registration form for the RSS, the general lobbying issue is noted as foreign relations, and the specific lobbying issue is “U.S.-India bilateral relations.”

The focus on relations between the two countries strongly suggests that the firm’s activities should be registered under FARA, experts told Prism.

Yet, there is no foreign agent registration related to the RSS.

@BiplobKumarDas @prismreports

The RSS is not even listed as a foreign entity in its lobbying disclosures, a clear violation of the Lobbying Disclosure Act in the United States.

@BiplobKumarDas @prismreports

In the first three quarters of 2025, Squire Patton Boggs received $330,000 to lobby officials in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives on behalf of the RSS, according to lobbying reports.

This marks the first time the RSS has hired lobbyists in the U.S., according to public records.

@BiplobKumarDas @prismreports India’s largest far-right Hindu organization hired U.S. lobbyists for a congressional influence campaign in Washington, D.C.

Here is how they did so.

@prismreports @BiplobKumarDas

@BiplobKumarDas @prismreports This project would not have come out the way it did without the rigorous edits of our lead editor, @rashmee_kumar and the rest of the wonderful team at @prismreports

Here's our full report:
prismreports.org/2025/11/12/rss…

RSS spokesperson Sunil Ambekar says, “Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh works in Bharat and has not engaged any lobbying firm in United States of America”.

Official documents published by the U.S. Congress under the Lobbying Disclosure Act and first reported by myself and @BiplobKumarDas for @prismreports show how the firm Squire Patton Boggs is lobbying the U.S. Congress on behalf of the RSS.

Here is the flowchart that shows how this is happening, tracing the chain from Squire Patton Boggs to the RSS.

All the evidence for this — including the official documents mentioned — in our report here: prismreports.org/2025/11/12/rss…

In addition, as our report shows, two of the lobbyists at Squire Patton Boggs who are officially registered as lobbyists working on behalf of the RSS (Bill Shuster and Bradford Ellison), visited an RSS event in Nagpur in June. They had been registered as working for the RSS since January.

Guess who posted about their visit to Nagpur? The RSS.

@prismreports @BiplobKumarDas