Listen to this article:

What Sardar Patel thought about the shadowy character of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is further reinforced in today’s India; as Union home minister, Patel had banned the RSS. Can Priyank Kharge, the home minister of Karnataka, live up to that powerful image of the Iron Man of India and make the RSS accountable again?

Well, there is a striking difference between the two scenarios. In 1948, the RSS was another sundry organisation; though it had a reasonably high support base, it had no political heft. So when RSS was declared unlawful by Patel, no political party came forward to register their protest. In fact, most in the country cheered the decision.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel, chief minister Adityanath and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat during a ceremony at the Ram Temple, in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh on November 25, 2025. Photo: PMO via PTI.

Today, in 2026, the RSS controls the government of India. It has installed its once errand boy, Narendra Modi, on the prime ministerial chair. All those of any consequence in the ruling dispensation today routinely declare their unfailing loyalty to the Sangh parivar. 

So banning the RSS is not a feasible idea. What needs to be done is to highlight the goings-on in the shadowy organisation. People of the country need to be reminded how Patel had fathomed the dubious character of this opaque set-up and had minced no words in saying so. 

Kharge must be complimented for helping initiate a discussion on the RSS’s murky past and its questionable present. 

Growing political clout has made RSS legally unfettered

The RSS’s past was indeed murky; its anti-national character was self-evident to the freedom fighters of our country. While Gandhi’s millions were sacrificing their lives and livelihood to gain freedom from British rule, the RSS men were openly, unabashedly, acting as cheerleaders for the colonial masters.The British used the RSS to snoop down on the activists of the freedom movement. The Sangh had denounced Gandhi as an appeaser of Muslims and an enemy of Hindus.

No wonder, when Mahatma was assassinated by Nathuram Godse, a zealot anti-Muslim Hindu Mahasabha activist, the role of the RSS came under the lens. To escape retribution, then wily chief of the RSS, M.S. Golwalkar, issued a condolence message saying: “Shocked at this cruel fatal attack and tragic loss of (sic)........

© The Wire