Bengaluru: On India’s 80th Independence Day, Karnataka Home Minister Priyank Kharge questioned the RSS, mocking the organisation and asking in which freedom struggle it had participated. He challenged the organisation to produce a list of at least 50 people who were martyred during the movement. He said he could provide a list of 500 Congress workers who sacrificed their lives for the cause, according to a report by India Today.
“My only question to the RSS is this: tell us which freedom struggle you participated in,” India Today quoted Kharge.
Kharge also questioned the RSS’s role during the communal violence that followed Partition, asking what the organisation had done to protect people during the unrest. He argued that the RSS cannot be banned because it is not a formally registered organisation, using its lack of registration to question its legal status.
He rejected BJP allegations that the proposed Karnataka Regulation of Use of Government Premises and Public Property Bill was designed specifically to target the RSS. The proposed legislation would require organisations, whether registered or otherwise, to obtain permission from the relevant authorities before holding programmes on government land or public property. Kharge asked whether the Bill named the RSS or any political party, saying it was intended to provide a legal framework for Supreme Court and High Court directions on the use of public spaces.
Kharge maintained that organisations would remain free to conduct activities on private property, while the government should regulate programmes in public places. He also dismissed the BJP’s criticism as “Priyank-phobia” and said the Bill did not ban any organisation.
BJP leader B.L. Santhosh countered that the RSS does not need formal registration to establish its legitimacy. Speaking at a Hindu Jagarana Vedike event in Bengaluru, he said the organisation’s strength comes from the faith of millions and claimed that it stood with Hindus during Partition despite not being registered then or now.