CM Vijayan slams PM Modi for glorifying RSS on I-Day, calls it an 'insult'
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Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for glorifying the RSS in his Independence Day speech, saying it was “tantamount to insulting the day itself” and the freedom struggle. In a statement issued by his office, Vijayan accused Modi of attempting to “attribute fatherhood of independence” to the right-wing organisation, which had been banned following Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination.
Terming the PM’s action a “denial of history,” Vijayan said such measures cannot whitewash the RSS’s “poisonous history” of divisive politics. “The Prime Minister’s use of the Independence Day speech to glorify the RSS is tantamount to insulting the day itself,” the CM said.
On Friday, Modi hailed 100 years of the RSS as a “very proud and glorious” journey of the “world’s biggest NGO” and praised its volunteers for their dedicated service to the nation. Modi, a former RSS pracharak, said, “Today I want to mention one thing with great pride that 100 years ago an organisation was born, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. It's 100 years of national service has been a very proud and glorious page.”
Vijayan further alleged that the PM’s praise for the RSS, along with the Union Petroleum Ministry placing V D Savarkar’s image above that of Mahatma Gandhi in its Independence Day greeting card, revealed a “vast conspiracy.” The Marxist leader claimed the RSS carried the “dirty burden of hatred, communalism and riots” and urged the nation to unite against efforts to replace the history of human love and reciprocity with hatred.
He added that the RSS had turned its back on the freedom struggle but was now creating false narratives to claim a role in India’s independence. Vijayan argued that the organisation promoted Hindutva nationalism based on majority communalism rather than Indian nationalism, which upholds unity in diversity. He also questioned the intent of those calling for commemoration of Partition horrors while glorifying the RSS, stressing that the memory of Mahatma Gandhi, Bhagat Singh, and other freedom fighters cannot be equated with an organisation that “carries the ideology of inhumane sectarianism.”
With PTI inputs