Minister for IT-BT, Rural Development & Panchayat Raj Priyank Kharge during an interaction with The Hindu.
| Photo Credit: ALLEN EGENUSE J
Karnataka’s IT-BT and Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Priyank Kharge has said that for the past two days he has been “receiving calls filled with threats, intimidation, and filthiest abuse” directed at him and his family. The harassment, he alleged, followed his letter to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah seeking a ban on Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) activities on the premises of government properties.
Taking to X on Tuesday (October 14, 2025), he said, “For the past two days, my phone hasn’t stopped ringing. Calls filled with threats, intimidation and the filthiest abuse directed at me and my family, simply because I dared to question and restrain RSS activities in government schools, colleges and public institutions. But I’m neither shaken nor surprised. When the RSS didn’t spare Mahatma Gandhi or Babasaheb Ambedkar, why would they spare me?”
He further said, “If they think threats and personal jibes will silence me, they are mistaken. This has just begun. It is time to build a society founded on the principles of Buddha, Basavanna and Babasaheb, society rooted in equality, reason and compassion and purge this nation of the most dangerous viRuSS.”
Ban activities on govt properties
On Sunday (October 12, 2025), the day RSS held 100 events across Bengaluru (many on school grounds and other government premises), Mr. Kharge demanded that such activities not be allowed on government properties. He said in his letter to the Chief Minister, “In the interest of the well-being of the country’s children, youth, the public, and society as a whole, I earnestly request that a ban be imposed on all types of activities conducted by the RSS, whether under the name of shakha, sanghik, or baithak on the premises of government properties.”
Mr. Siddaramaiah said on October 13 that he had instructed the Chief Secretary to study measures taken by the neighbouring Tamil Nadu government to restrict the activities of the RSS there.
Published – October 14, 2025 01:09 pm IST
