New Delhi: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge invoked Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s legacy on Friday and called for a ban on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
He said that even Sardar 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.
His son Priyank Kharge, a minister in the Karnataka cabinet, has been calling for a ban on the activities of the RSS in the state for quite some time now. A Panchayat Development Officer from Karnataka has also been suspended for participating in an RSS event.
“My personal opinion is that RSS should be banned,” Kharge said at a press conference on Friday, comparing the RSS’s ideology with “poison.”
“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,” Kharge added.
According to him, Patel had mentioned in a letter that the RSS celebrated Mahatma Gandhi’s death, 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 claimed.
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, Kharge said.
The BJP has slammed the Congress for invoking Patel to attack the RSS after “ignoring” his contributions for decades.
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, party 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.
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was a towering figure in India’s freedom movement. The first home minister of India is credited with having unified the country after Independence by bringing the princely states under the Indian dominion. Sardar Patel’s birth anniversary was celebrated across the country on Friday (October 31) as Rashtriya Ekta Diwas.