Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s latest outburst — demanding a ban on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) — is not just laughably ignorant, but politically suicidal. It reeks of desperation, confusion, and perhaps the dawning realization that Congress has no ideological ground left to stand on. When a century-old party, once the dominant force of Indian politics, reduces itself to shouting “Ban RSS!” — it is not attacking the Sangh; it is signing its own obituary. Let’s begin with a simple question: Why ban the RSS? What exactly has it done to merit such hostility today, in 2025? Is it for running thousands of schools, seva kendras, rural health camps, and relief operations during natural calamities — activities even the Congress governments once acknowledged and appreciated? Or is it simply because the RSS stands for unapologetic cultural nationalism that refuses to bend before pseudo-secular blackmail? Kharge’s rhetoric is not new. Congress has tried this before — and failed miserably. The RSS was banned three times in history, and each time, it was the Congress that had to quietly lift the ban after realizing there wasn’t a shred of evidence to justify it. The first ban came in 1948, following Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination — a tragedy that the Congress quickly sought to politicize. But when investigations revealed no RSS involvement, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel himself, the Congress’s own Home Minister, wrote to Nehru stating clearly that the RSS had no hand in the killing. The ban was lifted in 1949. Then again, during the Emergency in 1975, Indira Gandhi — terrified of dissent and allergic to democracy — banned the RSS along with other organizations. Yet, even in jail, the swayamsevaks’ discipline and patriotism stood out. When democracy returned, the same RSS was hailed by the people as a force that stood up to tyranny. The ban was once again lifted. And who can forget 1992, after the demolition of the Babri structure? The Congress under Narasimha Rao briefly banned the RSS, only to lift it again within months because — once more — there was no legal or moral basis to sustain the action.
So, Mr. Kharge, here’s the question: If your own party lifted the ban three times, what makes you think a fourth attempt will succeed? Or is this simply a last-ditch attempt to consolidate what remains of your vote bank by vilifying the majority faith? Even Congress leaders of the past had far greater wisdom. After the 1962 war with China, Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri publicly praised the RSS for its patriotic service. In fact, he invited the organization to participate in the Republic Day Parade of 1963 — the same RSS that Kharge now wants banned. Has the Congress president even read his own party’s history? This intellectual bankruptcy is the hallmark of today’s Congress. Having lost the trust of Hindus, alienated the youth, and been reduced to a regional player in most states, it seeks survival through divisive sloganeering. Kharge’s demand is not about “protecting secularism.” It’s about manufacturing relevance in an era where his party’s own workers no longer believe in its message. The irony is thick. The RSS, born in 1925, has survived British suspicion, Nehruvian hostility, Indira’s dictatorship, and decades of vilification. Today, it runs over 50,000 shakhas, inspires countless social service organizations, and shapes patriotic discourse across India. The Congress, by contrast, can barely inspire its own state units to cooperate without tearing each other apart. What Kharge and his handlers in 10 Janpath fail to grasp is that demonizing the RSS is no longer electorally profitable. The Hindu voter has wised up. Every time Congress attacks Hindu organizations, it reinforces the perception that the party’s secularism is just thinly disguised Hinduphobia. Every time it mocks rituals, temples, or the idea of Bharat Mata, it digs its political grave a little deeper. Is this the same Congress that dreams of returning to power at the Centre? If so, it’s a party in denial. A party that cannot understand India’s civilizational ethos, cannot respect its majority faith, and cannot differentiate between nationalism and bigotry, has no future in Indian politics. Kharge’s rant may win him applause from the echo chambers of Lutyens’ Delhi or the usual “intellectual” circuits abroad, but on the ground, it only alienates millions of ordinary Indians who see through this farce. The Congress today is not fighting the RSS; it is fighting its own irrelevance. In the end, history will remember that while the RSS grew through discipline, service, and nationalism, the Congress decayed through cynicism, hypocrisy, and arrogance. Kharge’s call for a ban on the RSS is not a battle cry — it is a confession: that the Congress has lost faith, lost direction, and most of all, lost India.
