A graphic featuring a postage stamp and a representative image of the Rashtriya Swamsevak Sangh (RSS) is viral. It also has the following words written: "100 years of selfless service". It is being shared with the claim that a commemorative stamp was released by the Netherlands government to pay tribute to RSS on completing 100 years.
BJP's official X handle (@BJP4India) posted the above-mentioned graphic on October 10 and stated in the caption that "The Netherlands has released a commemorative stamp to mark 100 years of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)..." (Archive)
BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya), has been found spreading misinformation several times in the past, posted the same graphic with the same caption. (Archive)
The Netherlands has released a commemorative stamp to mark 100 years of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). A significant gesture of international recognition for one of India's most influential social organisations. pic.twitter.com/jnRnGePY3f
News outlet Times Now published a video report on their YouTube channel on October 10, where they, too, reported that the Netherlands released commemorative stamps to mark 100 years of RSS.
Several other users and BJP leaders, such as Priti Gandhi (@MrsGandhi), @PrakashJavdekar, @NileshOak, and @RNagothu, shared the viral graphic claiming that a stamp had been released by the Netherlands government acknowledging RSS' work.
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Fact Check
To verify the authenticity of the claim, we began with running a keyword search to look for news reports about the Netherlands government releasing RSS stamps, but we couldn't find any.
On careful inspection, we noticed that a bank account name was mentioned in the viral graphic: "Stichting Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh". Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS) is an international wing of the RSS, has branches in several countries, such as the United States of America, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, etc.
The word "Stichting" stands for 'founding/foundation' in Dutch. And, in the spherical block within the graphic details of how to place an order and shipping charges are given along with the email id: hssnetherlands@gmail.com.
Taking a cue from all of this, we ran a relevant keyword search and found a report by the Organiser, a weekly magazine affiliated with the RSS. The title of the report reads: "RSS at 100: Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh Nederland launches special commemorative stamp to honour centenary of Sangh", and it carried the same two stamps that are in the viral graphic.
The report stated, "To honour this monumental milestone, Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh Nederland. (HSS NL) proudly launched on World Postal day a special commemorative postal stamp – a symbol of one hundred years of unity, discipline, and devotion to the world's universal Dharma". (sic)
Additionally, we found that the Netherlands postal service called 'PostNl' allowed one to create personalised stamps by uploading any image.
Therefore, from the above findings, it is clear that the Netherlands government did not issue any RSS stamp to honour the organisation's 100 years; it was created by the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh Netherlands using a service offered to the public by the the country, and is being sold by them.
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