On August 21, 2025, DK Shivakumar, the then Karnataka deputy chief minister, now the Chief Minister, recited the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) anthem ‘namaste sada vatsale matrabhume…’, inside the state legislative assembly. He was replying to questions on the stampede that took place inside the Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore, that left 11 people dead after the Royal Challengers had won the Indian Premier League that year and the team was being accorded public reception inside the stadium.
While the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party members, who otherwise were seeking his resignation over the stampede, welcomed it, his own Congress colleagues were taken aback. But Shivakumar is smart. He successfully diverted the attention of the principal opposition party.
Any other Congressman doing that would have invited action, particularly when the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, the de facto boss of the Congress, is fiercely opposed to RSS and its ideology. In every political gathering, Rahul Gandhi clubs the RSS and BJP together and accuses them of spreading hatred and dividing people. Shivakumar simply got away with it for his proximity with Gandhi. But he explained that he had studied in a school run by the RSS where the anthem was sung daily.
Now after about a year, Shivakumar is the Chief Minister of Karnataka. Priyank Kharge, son of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, is Karnataka Home Minister. He has consistently positioned himself as a staunch and vocal critic of the RSS. Even before becoming the Home Minister, when he was the information technology minister, he routinely targeted the RSS and its activities.
Now, after becoming the Home Minister, he shot off a letter to RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, asking him under what law the RSS was carrying out its activities across the country. Obviously, the letter would go unacknowledged. Priyank is playing to the gallery and wants to place himself along with party boss Rahul Gandhi when it comes to the RSS. Besides, RSS is a highly active organisation in Karnataka. Its network is the backbone of the BJP, the only challenger to the Congress.
Priyank knows well that no organisation needs to register itself mandatorily. The organisation can work as a “body of individuals”, which the RSS is doing. Yes, it has a wide network of frontal organisations like Sewa Bharti, Sanskar Bharti, Vidya Bharti, just to name a few, which are duly registered. The RSS, the parent body as such, is not registered anywhere.
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The RSS is considered to be one of largest voluntary organisations in the world with about 50 lakh members. Globally, it comes only next to the Red Cross. But the Red Cross is not a strictly structured organisation like the RSS. That is why RSS is sometimes described as the largest voluntary organisation in the world. Every day an estimated 80 to 90 thousand RSS ‘shakhas’ are held across India with participation of a few lakh volunteers. Each ‘shakha’ (gathering), includes physical drills, both in the morning and evening and discussions on topical issues. The organisation keeps on growing. The volunteers are drawn from different walks of life, who while doing their routine work, whether business or jobs, devote some time to the RSS activities.
Priyank knows it well that he cannot do anything about the RSS or its activities, as long as these are not illegal. The ‘shakhas’ are held in open public spaces. There is nothing secretive about these that will demand any question, probe or investigation. He only wants to be seen as someone who can challenge and confront the RSS. His political ambitions are quite big and he seems to be looking at things for the future. Taking a fiercely anti-RSS stance will endear him to about 13 per cent Muslim population of the state, besides endearing him to his boss, Rahul Gandhi.
Priyank appears to be mistaken that the RSS’ phenomenal growth has taken place since 2014 after the BJP came to power. Rather, it is the other way round. It is because of the extensive network that the RSS has spread across the country, even in states like Kerala and Tamil Nadu, that has helped the BJP reach such a strong position.
The Karnataka Home Minister has also been targeting the huge assets the RSS has created across the country. His argument is that when the RSS is not a registered organisation, how does it receive funds and account for them.
That issue has been taken care of long back. The RSS is identified as a “body of individuals” which collects donations through “dakshina” where the volunteers contribute offerings.
The voluntary donations, according to RSS ideologue Ram Madhav, are covered under the principle of “mutuality” of the income tax laws. Based on this principle, he says, the Central Board of Direct Taxes has ruled that the voluntary donation cannot be taxed. The Patna High Court has upheld the CBDT order.
DK Shivakumar is not the only Congressman who has had an association with the RSS. A large section of the Congress supporters do not consider the RSS as a sectarian or a divisive group; rather they consider it to be a patriotic and nationalist organisation. Priyank also knows it well that when his immediate boss, the Chief Minister, can recite the RSS anthem inside the Karnataka assembly, there must not be anything illegal or unconstitutional about the organisation. His purpose does not seem to be legal or constitutional, but purely rhetorical, to build up a narrative and place himself as a fierce critic of the RSS for a secure future role within the Congress.
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