RSS must seek formal permission for Vijayadashami route marches: Priyank

Karnataka Home Minister Priyank Kharge on Tuesday, 20 October, asked the RSS to obtain formal permission from the competent authorities for its proposed Vijayadashami route marches on 25 October, stressing that merely informing the Home Department or seeking cooperation does not amount to approval.

In a post on X, Kharge said the police needed adequate time to plan deployment of personnel, transportation, food, traffic management, security and other logistical arrangements for the marches, which involve public resources.

"Merely 'informing' or telling the Home Department to 'cooperate' or 'make necessary arrangements' is not the same as obtaining permission," he said, urging the RSS to submit applications under the prescribed procedure and await formal approval.

Kharge, son of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, cited the  Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha Annual Report 2025-26, which, he said, recorded 562 RSS route marches across Karnataka involving 2,21,963 uniformed participants.

"Now, when lakhs of you intend to march through Karnataka's streets on single day at the same time, the Police department has considerable preparations to make," he said.

The minister asked the organisation to fill out the prescribed application form and provide the necessary details before proceeding with the events.

He also posted letters submitted by RSS units to police stations in Bengaluru, which refer to Vijayadashami route marches planned for 25 October.

A letter dated 15 October from the RSS unit in Kamalanagar informed the Mahalakshmi Layout police station about a procession scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. from a ground beside the Shiva temple on Pipeline Road.

The route would pass through Kempegowda Layout and Kasturi Layout before returning to the starting point.

Another communication to the Nandini Layout police station and traffic police referred to a route march in Laggere between 9 a.m. and 12.30 p.m.

It proposed starting at 9.30 a.m. from Gate-1 of the Apollo National School ground in Chowdeshwari Nagar and passing through several streets before concluding at Gate-2 of the school.

Priyank Kharge has earlier said that the RSS is an unregistered organisation, suggesting that it is functioning illegally in India. He had also sought the details of their revenues and expenditure.

The RSS maintained that many things in India happen unregistered and registration of everything is not necessary.