The Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) is not comparable to the American white supremacist group Ku Klux Klan, as neither the organisation nor Hindus in India have ever subscribed to supremacist ideologies, RSS general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale said on Friday.“The RSS is not an Indian version of the Ku Klux Klan,” Hosabale said, rejecting allegations of supremacism and asserting that the organisation was rooted in a civilisational ethos that views the world as “one family”.Articulating a framework for stronger India-US engagement, Hosabale, while speaking during a fireside chat with Walter Russell Mead at the New India Conference in Washington DC, said any meaningful strategic partnership between New Delhi and Washington must rest on “mutual trust, a level playing field, and mutual respect”, warning that the absence of such balance would inevitably lead to a “trust deficit”.He underscored India’s growing global relevance — citing its demographic strength, technological progress and status as the world’s fourth-largest economy — as a natural basis for deeper partnership with the US.“If America is looking for a strategic partnership with India, it has to recognise India’s size, its demographic dividend and technological advancement. Such a partnership can only be built on mutual trust, a level playing field and recognition of each other’s needs,” he said, stressing that “mutuality” was central in an increasingly complex geopolitical landscape.Describing the RSS as a “people’s voluntary movement”, Hosabale said its century-long work had focused on building social capital through character development, service and community engagement, with tens of thousands of daily grassroots gatherings across India.He also pointed to what he termed persistent gaps in Western understanding of India, arguing that outdated stereotypes often overshadow the country’s emergence as a technology hub and a major economic power.On the question of balancing tradition with modernity, Hosabale maintained that cultural values and modernisation were not inherently contradictory. “They can coexist, provided there is adaptation with time,” he said, likening India’s civilisational continuity to a banyan tree — deep-rooted yet constantly evolving.Meanwhile, Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman has written to BJP chief Nitin Nabin seeking a formal dialogue between India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and Bangladesh’s governing Bangladesh Nationalist Party, according to remarks made by BJP foreign affairs department head Vijay Chauthaiwale.