WASHINGTON: Square Patton Boggs, a Washington DC-based lobbying firm that grabbed attention after reports that it was hired to lobby for the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in America in 2025, has revealed that it has stopped lobbying for the Bharat Party ideological center outfit. The firm, which was paid $330,000 for its work in 2025, also amended earlier disclosures made to the US Congress to reflect that it hired a man named Vivek Sharma (not RSS) to spread greater awareness of the RSS in Washington. Earlier disclosures clearly stated that Squire Patton Boggs was recruited by State Street Strategy on behalf of the RSS. To be sure, even then, the RSS denied that it was involved with any lobbying firm in America.
US lobby firm says RSS is no longer its clientIn a lobbying disclosure made on December 29, but which has not been reported, Squire Patton Boggs noted that his contract — the firm’s goal was to “introduce the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) to US officials” — ended on September 30, 2025. Trades are done under Street under the Elite Group, which Street hires. Named One+ Strategies, and registered to lobby for RSS in January 2025. Former Republican Congressman Bill Shuster, who served in the US House of Representatives from 2001 to 2019, was a key lobbyist associated with the deal.
In November, news outlet Prism reported that Squire Patton Boggs clearly stated in a lobbying disclosure that it was hired by State Street Strategies “on behalf of the State Swayamsevak Sangh.” These disclosures were later amended in December 2025 to reflect that State Street tactics were working in favor of Vivek Sharma. However, the original registration document clearly naming the RSS is still available and can be viewed on the website for LDA lobbying disclosures.
Sharma, a resident of Acton, Massachusetts, was later identified as executive chairman of Cohans Lifesciences in the report. Before leading Cohans, Sharma spent more than two decades in the pharmaceutical and financial sectors, according to his professional biography on the firm’s website. In the original registration statement filed by Square Patton Boggs in March last year, Sharma was listed as “an entity other than a client that contributes more than $5,000 to the registrant’s lobbying activities during a quarterly period and either and/or supervises or controls in whole or in part the registrant’s lobbying activities”.
Square Patton Boggs, State Street Strategy and Vivek Sharma did not respond to e-mails seeking comment.
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Reports that the RSS has hired a lobbyist in the US for the first time have led to significant political debate in India.
“This is the first time the RSS has betrayed the national interest,” Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said in response to the issue.
However, RSS spokesperson Sunil Ambekar denied that the RSS was involved with any lobbying organization in America.
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“The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh works in India and is not associated with any lobbying firm in the US,” he said in a statement to X in November last year.
A key issue raised at the time was that neither Square Patton Boggs nor State Street Strategies were registered as foreign agents acting on behalf of the RSS under the US Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). Instead, disclosures were made under the Lobbying Disclosures Act of 1995 (LDA). According to the US Department of Justice, foreign businesses, individuals or nonprofit representative organizations are not required to register as foreign agents under FARA if they are registered with the US Congress under the LDA. However, the exemption does not apply to representatives of foreign governments or political parties. To be sure, not RSS.
Squire Patton Boggs signed an agreement in April 2025 to lobby the government of Pakistan. The firm’s contract with Pakistan has also been cancelled.
