BJP criticises Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge’s remarks against RSS

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday (October 31, 2025) criticised Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s remarks against the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), comparing them to the language used by the “Popular Front of India (PFI), the Muslim League, and the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind.”

In a statement to the media, BJP MP and spokesperson Sambit Patra said Mr. Kharge should read the history of the RSS and what great leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi, Bhimrao Ambedkar, and senior Congress leaders have said about the Sangh.

The Congress chief had said that, in his personal opinion, the RSS should be banned.

Congress leaders on RSS

On the issue of Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination, Mr. Patra said the Kapur Commission had found that the RSS had absolutely nothing to do with it, adding that the Supreme Court’s judgment in the matter was also in the public domain.

In 1934, Mahatma Gandhi had visited an RSS camp in Wardha and was impressed by the discipline and the absence of untouchability in the camp, Mr. Patra said. In 1939, Ambedkar visited a Sangh camp in Pune and remarked that he was happy to find absolute equality between the “upper and lower” castes, without anyone being aware of such differences existing.

The BJP leader said that former Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi, as well as former President Pranab Mukherjee, all Congress leaders, had also praised the RSS. During any calamity — COVID-19, earthquake, or flood — RSS volunteers were always at the forefront of public service, Mr. Patra said.

Party MP and spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi, in a separate statement, added that Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel himself had commended the RSS as a nationalist organisation.