Indian National Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday said the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) should be banned, invoking Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s 1948 letter that blamed the organisation for creating the atmosphere that led to Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination, asserting that if the Prime Minister truly respects Patel’s views, he should act on them.
Addressing a press conference, Kharge said, “I want to remind you of Sardar Patel Ji’s words, Sardar Patel Ji wrote in a letter on 4 February 1948: ‘Gandhi Ji’s death led the RSS members to express joy and distribute 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 Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, he said, ‘The report proves that the atmosphere created in the country due to the activities of RSS and Hindu Mahasabha is what led to Gandhi Ji’s assassination,” Kharge noted.
Kharge further highlighted that “Sardar Patel used to say that the RSS’s speeches are filled with the poison of communalism. It was because of the RSS that Gandhiji was assassinated.”
He alleged that “ The people who assassinated Gandhiji are the same ones who today question the Congress. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel is a leader who unified the country. He expressed his views on Fundamental Rights in the Constituent Assembly and ensured they were included in the Constitution.”
When asked directly whether he supports a renewed ban on the RSS, Kharge said, “These are my personal views, and I openly say that there should be one (a ban on the RSS). If the Prime Minister respects the views presented by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, this should be done. All the wrongs in the country and all law and order issues here are due to the BJP and RSS.”
The RSS was banned in 1948 following Gandhi’s assassination, with Patel, then Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister, writing that the organisation’s activities had created an atmosphere conducive to violence. The ban on the Hindu paramilitary organisation was lifted in 1949 after the RSS agreed to adopt a written constitution and limit its work to cultural activities.
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