In June this year, Mohan Bhagwat offered many reasons for refuting demands that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) be registered. 

The sarsanghachalak—supreme leader—of the RSS argued that it is only a “body of individuals”; that the government already knows it exists because it has been banned multiple times since its inception; and that “Hindu Dharma is not registered” either. Bhagwat also said that the RSS did not need to be legally registered because only “those who seek funds from the government require registration”. The Sangh has long claimed that it has no such requirement. In its telling, it sustains itself on the tax-free contributions that volunteers make as gurudakshina—offerings to a teacher. 

But the RSS’s financial trail is opaque. The amounts it........

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