US lobby firm says RSS no longer its client

WAshington: gallant Patton Boggs, a booker t. Washington DC based lobbying business firm that gained attending in 2025 followers reports that it was hired to lobby for the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in America, has disclosed that it has since ceased lobbying for the organisation, the ideological fount of the Bharatiya Janata Party. The firm , which was paid $330,000 for its work in 2025 , also amended earlier disclosures made with the U.S. Congress to reflect that it was hired by an individual named Vivek Sharma (and not the RSS) to spread greater awareness about the RSS in Washington. Earlier disclosures explicitly stated that Squire Patton Boggs was hired by State Street Strategies on behalf of the RSS. To be sure, even back then, the RSS denied that it had engaged any lobbying firm in America.In a lobbying disclosure made on 29 December, but which hasn’t been reported, Squire Patton Boggs outlined that its contract -- the firm’s goal was to “introduce the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) to U.S. Officials”-- was been terminated on 30 September 2025. The elite lobbying firm was hired by State Street Strategies, which also does business under the name One+ Strategies, and registered to lobby for the RSS in January 2025. Former Republican Congressman Bill Shuster, who served in the US House of Representatives between 2001 and 2019, was a key lobbyist associated with the contract.In November, news outlet Prism reported that Squire Patton Boggs explicitly stated in lobbying disclosures that it was hired by State Street Strategies acting “on behalf of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh”. These disclosures were subsequently amended in December 2025 to reflect that State Street Strategies was acting on behalf of Vivek Sharma. However, the original registration document explicitly naming the RSS is still present and can be viewed on the website for LDA lobbying disclosures.Sharma , a resident of Acton, Massachusetts , was identified by subsequent reports as the executive chairman of Cohance Lifesciences. Prior to leading Cohance, Sharma spent over 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 Squire Patton Boggs in March last year, Sharma was listed as “an entity other than the client that contributes more than $5,000 to the lobbying activities of the registrant in a quarterly period and either participates in and/or in whole or in major part supervises or controls the registrant’s lobbying activities”.Squire Patton Boggs, State Street Strategies and Vivek Sharma did not respond to e-mails seeking comment.Reports that the RSS had hired a lobbyist in the US  for the first time led to significant political controversy in India.“This is hardly the first time that the RSS..has betrayed national interest,” Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said in response to the matter.However, RSS spokesperson Sunil Ambekar denied that the RSS had engaged any lobbying firm in America.“Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh works in Bharat and has not engaged any lobbying firm in United States of America,” he said in a statement on X in November last year.A key issue raised at the time was that neither Squire Patton Boggs nor State Street Strategies had registered as foreign agents working on behalf of the RSS under the US Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). Instead, the disclosures were made under the Lobbying Disclosures Act (LDA) of 1995. According to the US Department of Justice, firms representing foreign businesses, individuals or non-profits do not need to register as foreign agents under FARA in case they have registered under the LDA with US Congress. However, the exemption does not apply to those representing foreign governments or political parties. To be sure, the RSS is neither.Squire Patton Boggs also signed a contract to lobby on behalf of the government of Pakistan in April of 2025. The firm’s contract with Pakistan has also since been terminated.