R.S.S.S.

R.S.S.S. is an extremist party in the novel’s political landscape, made visible through swastika symbols painted on walls. Its brief appearances place it within the charged public world of religious iconography, competing national identities, and political mythmaking, without developing it into a fully described organization.

Identity and Public Presence

The narrator identifies R.S.S.S. as an extremist party and notes that its symbol was commonly seen on walls. The account distinguishes the mark used by the party from the Nazi swastika, presenting it instead as an ancient Hindu symbol associated with power. The party therefore enters the narrative through a sign in the street: a political presence encountered in the ordinary surroundings of the city.

The Symbol in the Street

When Lifafa Das sets up his peepshow, it stands against a wall marked with a swastika. The juxtaposition brings the party’s emblem into a scene of public spectatorship: the peepshow gathers images of famous monuments, contemporary figures, and social conditions, while the wall behind it carries a sign of political identity. The novel does not say that Lifafa Das or his audience belongs to R.S.S.S.; the connection is one of setting and visual contrast.

Political and National Context

The wider narrative repeatedly shows national identity being shaped through political claims, public language, and competing accounts of truth. Its account of India as a collective dream makes such symbols legible as part of the public landscape through which ideas of nation and belonging circulate. Yet the evidence supplied does not describe R.S.S.S.’s program, leaders, or direct role in the events of the story. Its significance here remains concentrated in the recurring visibility of its mark and the charged political atmosphere that mark evokes.