Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge has reiterated that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) should be banned in the country, stating that even Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel had banned the participation of government employees in RSS’s activities. The ban was lifted by the BJP government in 2024; it must be reinstated, he demanded.
“My personal opinion is that RSS should be banned,” Kharge said at a press conference on Friday, comparing the RSS’s ideology with “poison.”
The BJP has slammed the Congress for invoking Patel to attack the RSS after “ignoring” his contributions for decades.
The Congress government in Karnataka, the home state of Kharge, had been at loggerheads with the BJP lately over restricting government employees from participating in rallies of the RSS, which is the ideological parent of the BJP.
“Sardar Patel also said that one should not work for the RSS while in government service. He had banned government employees from participating in the activities of the RSS and Jamaat-e-Islami, which the Modi government lifted on July 9, 2024. We demand that this ban be reinstated,” said Kharge.
Vallabhbhai Patel is a towering figure in India’s freedom movement. The first Home Minister of India is credited with unifying the country after Independence by bringing the princely states under the Indian dominion. Today marks Sardar Patel’s birth anniversary, celebrated across the country as Rashtriya Ekta Diwas.
Patel had written in a letter that the RSS celebrated Mahatma Gandhi’s death, Kharge said this morning, justifying the ban on the right-wing group in 1948.
“Sardar Patel united the country. Jawaharlal Nehru believed that Sardar Patel’s contribution was immense. On February 4, 1948, Sardar Patel wrote in a letter about the RSS: ‘The RSS celebrated Gandhiji’s death and distributed sweets.’ After this, the government had no other option,” the Congress chief asserted.
Kharge said that, as per the report received by Patel, the atmosphere created in the country due to the ideology of the RSS and the Hindu Mahasabha was responsible for Gandhi’s assassination.
Hitting back, the BJP accused the Congress of ignoring Patel for over 50 years and downplaying his contributions. They never followed Patel’s footsteps and are using his name now to oppose the RSS, asserted BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla.
“INC is not the Indian National Congress. It stands for Indian Nazi Congress. Despite all their conspiracies, the court lifted the ban on the RSS. They said RSS was a non-political organisation and government employees can take part in their activities. But the Congress is so intolerant that they stand with the rioters of PFI, SDPI, and MIM but spew venom against RSS, which is working for the country’s welfare,” he said.