Bengaluru, June 25 (IANS) Karnataka Home Minister Priyank Kharge on Thursday launched a fresh attack on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), alleging that the BJP reacts aggressively whenever questions are raised about the RSS.

In a statement, Kharge said criticism of the RSS invariably draws a sharp response from the BJP, which he described as evidence of the close relationship between the two organisations.

“Every time anyone questions the RSS, the BJP loses its composure,” he said.

He questioned the RSS’s role in India’s freedom movement and alleged that an organisation that had made no contribution to the freedom struggle was now attempting to lecture the nation on patriotism.

Kharge also referred to the hoisting of the national flag at the RSS headquarters in Nagpur and questioned why it had taken 52 years for the Tricolour to be raised there.

The minister further questioned the RSS’s commitment to the Constitution and asked whether its allegiance was to the Constitution drafted under the leadership of Dr B.R. Ambedkar or to an alternative framework that, he alleged, the organisation would have preferred.

He also raised questions about the RSS’s organisational structure, alleging that it had refused to register itself and pay taxes.

“Ask the RSS to practice what it preaches, and the BJP hisses back,” Kharge said.

Claiming that the BJP has historically functioned as an instrument of the RSS rather than merely an ally, Kharge said every reaction from the BJP only reinforced that perception.

“The BJP has always been the RSS’s instrument, never merely its ally. Every response only confirms who is holding the tail,” he remarked.

The statement comes amid an escalating political confrontation between Congress leaders and the BJP-RSS over the role of the RSS in public life, its historical legacy, and its relationship with the ruling party at the Centre.

Kharge sparked a major political controversy by writing an open letter to RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat, demanding transparency regarding the organisation’s legal status, registration, financial funding, and taxation records.

He questioned why the RSS, which claims to be the world’s largest socio-cultural NGO with thousands of branches, operates without formal registration, and challenged it to disclose its legal status, office-bearers, assets, and details of its “guru dakshina” (donations).

RSS leadership dismissed the demands as a “political gimmick,” stating that the organisation has functioned successfully for over a century without needing such registration or government oversight.

The row has opened a heated debate between the Congress and the BJP, with Kharge’s challenge placing constitutional transparency against the century-old traditional methods of the Sangh.

–IANS

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