RSS should be banned: Kharge offers 'personal opinion', cites Sardar Patel

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday said that, in his personal opinion, the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) should be banned as most law and order problems in the country were arising because of the BJP-RSS.

He also charged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had insulted the legacy of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel by allowing government employees to be associated with the Sangh.

Kharge hit back at Prime Minister Modi after he attacked the Congress on Patel's birth anniversary, observed as Rashtriya Ekta Diwas (National Unity Day), and cited Patel's remarks censuring the RSS following the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi in 1948.

Responding to a question on banning the RSS again, Kharge said, “It is my personal opinion and I will say it openly, it should be done,” and added that most issues and law and order problems were all arising because of the BJP-RSS.

He said what Patel had put forth before the nation, the prime minister and Union home minister Amit Shah should pay heed to.

Asked about the government lifting the ban on government employees associating with the RSS, Kharge said when Patel himself had banned the RSS, “then naturally he is disrespecting our Vallabhbhai Patel ji, who himself gave all the reasons why he banned the RSS and there is no ambiguity”.

The Congress chief said Patel wanted to bring in unity and peace and he fought for it. “But after bringing unity in the country, anyone who tries to break that unity should be taught a lesson. And, you know who are those people who are breaking that unity,” he said.

Asked further if this would create an atmosphere of disunity, Kharge said, “I clearly feel that something which had ended, this government has revived that and these people will be responsible for whatever happens in the country.”

He said till 2024 nothing had happened, and now that it was not good for the country to once again “awaken the people”.

“This is not good for the country and it is like tasting poison, whose result is certain death. There is no need to taste poison once again. The things being done by Modi ji are not good for the country,” he said.

Noting that today is the birth anniversary of Patel and the death anniversary of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, the Congress president said these two great leaders — “iron man” and “iron lady” — made a big contribution to the country and strove to maintain unity.

This is the history of the Congress and its contribution, Kharge said at a press conference in New Delhi.

Kharge cited a letter written by Patel to Bharatiya Jana Sangh (the BJP's precursor) founder Syama Prasad Mookerjee, in which the then home minister said the RSS had created an atmosphere that led to the tragedy of Mahatma Gandhi's assassination.

They always tried to portray a rift between India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Patel when they had great ties and both had praised each other, Kharge said. Nehru hailed Patel for shaping India’s unity and Patel called Nehru an ideal for the country.

Kharge also recalled a letter from Patel to Mookerjee on 4 February 1948, in which he said, “On Gandhiji’s death, the RSS members expressed such joy and distributed sweets, which further intensified the opposition. In these circumstances, the government had no choice but to take steps against the RSS.”

“While writing this letter to Mookerjee, he said — the report proves that the atmosphere created in the country due to the activities of the RSS and the Hindu Mahasabha is what led to Gandhiji’s assassination,” Kharge said.

Kharge’s remarks came after Prime Minister Modi said Sardar Patel wanted to integrate the whole of Kashmir into India — just as he did with other princely states — but Nehru did not allow it to happen.

Slamming the Congress, Modi said the party had inherited the "slave mentality" from the British who ruled India. The country was now removing every trace of a colonial mindset, he added.

Earlier, to comemmorate Patel’s 150th birth anniversary, Kharge paid him tributes and said he was a source of inspiration for them, describing him as “the great Iron Man of India” who wove the entire nation into the thread of unity and integrity.

“Pandit Nehru called him the ‘architect of India’s unity’,” he said, adding that Patel was a former Congress chief and the resolution on fundamental rights passed in the Karachi Congress under his leadership was the soul of the Indian Constitution.

“Sardar Patel Saheb resides in our hearts, and his ideas, which emphasise mutual harmony and brotherhood, are an inseparable part of the Congress party’s ideology,” he said.

Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi also paid rich tributes to the country’s first home minister. “By weaving India into a single thread, he laid a strong foundation for the unity and integrity of the nation — his indomitable courage, foresight, and ideals will forever guide us,” Gandhi said.

Born in Gujarat's Nadiad in 1875, Patel was a pivotal figure in India’s struggle for Independence. He died in 1950.

With PTI inputs