The newly inducted Home minister of Karnataka, Priyank Kharge has taken a monumental decision to ask the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) “disclose organizational details, pay taxes and register itself.” See Sabrangindia’s report here. This is a monumental decision that if, taken to its logical end, could influence the future of the Indian democratic-secular polity. A simple and lawful directive, this could also have serious consequences for RSS, which despite being a ‘cultural’ organization is the de facto ideological ruler of India at present. Besides, this decision does not seem to be an isolated and individual act but the outcome of a well-thought-out out plan of action (POA) of the present Congress leadership which has rightly reached the conclusion that RSS must be confronted –as it is they key and only omnipotent-omnipresent extra-constitutional authority undoing India.
According to social media posts and wide reportage on the issue, Priyank Kharge in a letter (June 13, 2026) to RSS Supremo, Mohan Bhagwat sought details on the organisation’s legal status, finances, office-bearers and tax compliance. The State’s HM detailed that these details and actions were mandatory as the RSS officially claimed and had, over 60,000 shakhas and crores of swayamsevaks across India and abroad. Kharge outlined in his publicly released communication that this was not simply a legal requirement but also a moral issue. He wrote, “It is precisely because of this scale, influence and reach that the RSS must be held to the highest standards of transparency, accountability and constitutional compliance.”
Touching the nerve of every patriotic Indian, who has been battling this extra-constitutional authority and its functioning, Kharge stated, “An organisation that regularly evokes nationalism, discipline and duty must also demonstrate these values through transparency, compliance and respect for the Constitution of India. The RSS cannot ask ordinary Indians to follow rules while exempting itself from the same standards. If workers, small associations, religious institutions, NGOs, trusts, companies and citizens are expected to register, disclose, audit and pay taxes, then the RSS too must set an example by abiding by the rules of the land.”
No government in independent India has so far dared to confront RSS with these so many critical questions!
RSS supremo (Sarsanghchalak) Mohan Bhagwat’s reported response while on a tour of the southern state of Kerala was dismissive! Bhagwat while declaring that he did not “need to respond” to Kharge’s charges, went on to argue: “We are not secretive; we are working on open ground. We are calling people and telling them about us. This is politics, and all kinds of gimmicks are being tried… Hindu Dharma is not registered, and many other entities are not registered.”
However, the reality is this: the manner in which the Karnataka home minister has moved, the RSS will have to respond. Bhagwat’s plea that for “over 100 years, nobody told us to register” is not relevant: the RSS will have to “start preparing documents for registration” as stated by Kharge.
Meanwhile, a member of the RSS –also a a Hindutva bigot from Karnataka, Sudhir Bangera, 48, using filthy, derogatory, and casteist language against the home minister even threatened to kill him. “The time has come to finish you off”! The Facebook post from an account traced to Bangera said. The Times of India reported that Bangera had been arrested about a week ago when he used filthy casteist slurs and threatened to “finish off” Priyank Kharge! On X, Kharge shared a screenshot of Bangera’s post, where he allegedly abused the home minister and added, and “The time has come to finish you off.” Bangera was responding to a post on the Facebook page claiming that Kharge had said that as home minister, he would not allow the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) to spread communalism. “It hasn’t even been 48 hours since I assumed charge as Home Minister, you are already showing your fear, anxiety, and uneasiness,” Kharge said on X, tagging the state BJP. He accused the Opposition party of “using the RSS to insult me and issuing death threats”.
For decades now, since Independence, the RSS has been persistently resorting the defence that, “The RSS is not a political party. It does not take part in elections nor its office bearers are supposed to become office bearers of any political party. The RSS has no election symbol nor its leadership or members have ever endeavoured to seek political office. It is a social-cultural organization trying to inspire all national activity.” [RSS English organ Organizer edit, February 6, 2000.)
The time has come, given HM Karnataka, Priyank Kharge’s campaign to compare this claim of the RSS with the following two statements of Golwalkar, who headed the RSS after the death of KB Hedgewar, and is considered the greatest ideologue of the organisation to date. The first statement tells us about the kind of personnel who are sent to manipulate politics and what is expected of them by the RSS.
While delivering a speech on March 16, 1954, in Sindi, Wardha, he said,
“If we say that we are part of the organization and accept its discipline then selectiveness has no place in life. Do what is told. If told to play kabaddi, play kabaddi; told to hold meeting then meeting….For instance some of our friends were told to go and work for politics that does not mean that they have great interest or inspiration for it. They don’t die for politics like fish without water. If they are told to withdraw from politics then also there is no objection. Their discretion is just not required.”
[Golwalkar, MS, Shri Guruju Samgr Darshan (collected works of Golalkar in Hindi), Bhartiya Vichar Sadhna, Nagpur (RSS publication house), vol. III, n. d., p. 32.]
The second statement is also very significant and clearly highlights the high level of political ambitions of the RSS. While addressing the leading RSS cadres at Indore on March 5, 1960 Golwalkar had famously said:
“We know this also that some of our Swayamsevaks work in politics. There they have to organize according to the needs of work public meetings, processions etc., have to raise slogans. All these things have no place in our work. However, like the character in a play whatever role has been assigned should be portrayed with best of capability. But sometimes Swayamsevaks go beyond the role assigned to a performer (nat) as they develop over-zealousness in their hearts, to the extent that they become useless for this work. This is not good.”
[Ibid, vol. IV, pp. 4-5.]
The Nexus of the RSS made public by a publication of RSS
RSS is the only NGO in the world which claims it to be a cultural organisation but worships arms on its foundation day and runs a tentacle of organizations inimical to democratic-secular Indian polity.
The central publication house of the RSS, the Suruchi Prakashan, published a book, Param Vaibhav Ke Path Par (The Road to Eternal Glory) in 1997 giving details of more than 40 organizations created by the RSS for different tasks. Published in 1997 and 1999 (the author has a copy of the book but a book that disappeared from shelves of bookstores within months of the second edition published)
The preface of the book itself declares that,
“Without the knowledge of the different kinds of activities of the Sawyamsevaks (the volunteers of the RSS) the introduction of the RSS is incomplete. Keeping this in mind it has been attempted in this book to produce the brief information about the diverse activities of the Sawyamsevaks. This book covers the organizational status till 1996…We believe that this book will prove to be of use for those who want to understand the RSS with the Swyamsevaks.”
[Sapre, Sadanand D., Parm Vaibhav Ke Path Per, Suruchi (central publication house of RSS), Delhi, 1997, p. 7.]
The BJP as a political organization figures prominently in it, clubbed with the ABVP, Hindu Jagaran Manch, Vishva Hindu Parishad, Swadeshi Jagaran Manch and Sanskar Bharti. BJP figures at number 3 in the list of prominent organizations created by the RSS. This book gives details of the creation and development of Bhartiya Jan Sangh (the forerunner of the BJP) and then BJP by the RSS for purposes laid down by the latter. It is to be noted that PM of India and almost all ministers, BJP chief ministers and Governors publicly declare to be RSS cadres.
Sapre’s book, a document of the RSS and by the RSS can be the most crucial document needed to bell the cat, and ensure some accountability from this behemoth.
RSS & Conspiracies
A close reading of the above publication of the RSS shows how the organisation is run in a clandestine manner. It runs like a well-organised closed-door operation through its subsidiaries and satellites. There has always been a conscious attempt to create confusion about its different fronts which provide RSS with the opportunity to dissociate with any of these as per its convenience. For instance, it used Hindu Jagaran Manch (HJM) for “attacking Christians in late 1990s” and when public opinion, media and Parliament seemed to turn against it, RSS denied any relation with HJM. Whenever criminal activities of Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Bajrang Dal and ABVP are exposed, RSS declares that these are independent organizations. Interestingly, it was often seen mediating between the BJP lead government (1998-2004) and it’s these children.
It will be interesting –if and when the entire registration and disclosure takes place –to discover how many such and similar organisations have been similarly created in a secretive manner, characteristic of authoritarian and exclusivists outfits.
For instance, while giving the details of Hindu Jagaran Manch (HJM), the book says,
From the point of view of Hindu awakening this kind of forums (HJM) at present are active in 17 states with different names like ‘Hindu Manch’ in Delhi, ‘Hindu Munani’ in Tamilnadu, ‘Hinduekjut’ in Maharashtra. These are forums, not associations or organizations, that’s why it is not required to have membership, registration and elections.
[Sapre, Sadanand D., Param Vaibhav Ke Path Per, Suruchi, Delhi, 1997, p. 64.]
It is clear that these work as mafia to avoid scrutiny by law and government. Such an organisational mode provides an opportunity to RSS to disown any individual or organization previously directly or through another associate organization, associated with its vision and activities.
The RSS indulges in conspiracies too. This can be gleaned by the following disclosure in Param Vaibhav Ke Path Par about a case in Delhi immediately after Partition:
“Swayamsevaks had posed to have adopted Musalman religion in order to gain the confidence of Delhi Muslim League for knowing their conspiracies.”
[Ibid, p. 86.]
What these swayamsevaks, impersonating as Muslims, on the eve of Independence were doing was made clear by none other than Dr. Rajendra Prasad who later became first President of the Indian Republic. In a letter to the first Home Minister of India, Sardar Patel, on March 14, 1948, Prasad wrote:
“I am told that RSS people have a plan of creating trouble. They have got a number of men dressed as Muslims and looking like Muslims who are to create trouble with the Hindus by attacking them and thus inciting the Hindus. Similarly there will be some Hindus among them who will attack Muslims and thus incite Muslims. The result of this kind of trouble amongst the Hindus and Muslims will be to create a conflagration.”
[Rajendra Prasad to Sardar Patel (March 14, 1948) cited in Neerja Singh (ed.), Nehru – Patel: Agreement Within Difference—Select Documents & Correspondences 1933-1950, NBT, Delhi, p. 43.]
The following is the list of organisations mentioned in this controversial and now unavailable RSS publication. Many more have surfaced after publication of this book. The serial numbering is the same as in the book. The bracket has been added to explain the nature and function of each organisation.
- Akhil Bhartiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (Student)
- Vidya Bhrati (Education)
- BJP (political)
- VHP, Bajrang Dal, Durga Vahini, Dharam Sansad or Religious Parliament (Anti-Minority).
The RSS insists that Dharam Sansad is the highest supreme body of Hindus. This book tells us that, “Vishwa Hindu Parishad established Dharam Sansad in 1984”. It means that the Dharam Sansad, or the religious parliament, is a puppet in the hands of the VHP, child of RSS.
- Akhil Bharati Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram (Tribal)
- Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh (Working Class)
- Bhartiya Kisan Sangh (Peasants)
- Rashtra Sevika Samiti (Social Work-Women)
- SEWA BHARATI and TATSAM
(Social Work. Both these outfits have taken over all governmental welfare programmes in slums and poor areas even in cities like Delhi, which has Congress government. These are basically fronts to divert government funds to the RSS. Recently got license for sending adopted kids outside the country)
- Vishva Vibhag (Foreign Affairs)
- Akhil Bhartiya Rashtriya Shikshak Mahasangh (Education)
- Bhartiya Shiksha Mandal (Education)
- Rashtriya Sikh Sangat (Sikhs)
- Swadeshi Jagaran Manch (Economics, gets crores of rupees from government departments)
- Deen Dayal Shodh Sansthan (Intellectual)
- Bharat Vikas Parishad (similar to # 9 above)
- Bhartiya Itihas Sankalan Yojna (History)
- Sanskrit Bharati (Sanskrit Language which is favourite of the UGC these days)
- Sanskar Bharati (Culture, was in the fore-front against artist MF Hussain and films like Fire)
- Akhil Bharti Adhivakta Parishad (Lawyers)
- Hindu Jagaran Manch (Against the terrible attacks on Christians and Muslims in Gujarat and other parts of the country were owned by it)
- Samajik Samrasta Manch (Anti-reservation front)
- Akhil Bhartiya Sahitya Parishad (History)
- Pragya Bharati (Religious)
- Vigyan Bharati (Science)
- Laghu Udyog Bharati (Industry – Huge government funds available)
- Akhil Bhartiya Grahsak Panchayat (Consumers)
- Sehkar Bharati (Cooperative – gets huge government funds).
- Poorva Sainik Sewa Parishad (Ex-Servicemen)
- Bharat Prakashan (Publishes organs of the RSS like the Organiser)
- Suruchi Prakashan, Delhi (RSS central publication house)
- Lokhit Prakashan, Lucknow (Publication)
- Gyan Ganga Prakashan, Jaipur (Publication)
- Archana Prakashan, Bhopal (Publication)
- Akashvani Prakashan, Jullundur (Publication)
- Bhartiya Vichar Sadhana, Nagpur (Publication)
- Sadhana Prakashan, Gujarat (Publication)
About 10 more publishing houses in various parts of the country. Journals; Organiser (English, Panjanya, Rashtr Dharm (Hindi).
Unlisted/Not listed: Muslim Rashtiya Manch and dozens of Military schools.
Fabrications and Half-Truths
Mohan Bhagwat, in true RSS fashion has stated that “RSS does not accept government funds.” However many of its offshoots (santans) not only get Indian government funds but received foreign aid also from international agencies like the World Bank.
Only recently, the Akhil Bharati Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram held a big all India event (May 21-25, 2026) at Delhi for which RSS-BJP government played host. Reported by The Telegraph, the report may be read here.
According to an investigative story out of funds for a prominent sports mission, the flagship Target Olympic Podium Scheme (preparing elite athletes) crores of rupees was set aside by facilities for senior bureaucrats and two RSS-linked institutions in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. Indian Express reported this diversion of funds, actually a scam. There are thousands and thousands such cases which do not come to lime light because RSS is not registered and accountable. RSS does not have bank account/s despite collecting billions of rupees from India and abroad, hiring lakhs of employees for overt and covert activities.
An Indian activist, a passionate Indian, Lalan Singh, a worker from Nagpur has been has been, for years, knocking at the judiciary at almost all levels for securing a simple answer to the query asking under what rules RSS is provided state security costing billions of rupees of people’s money. However, no court has, so far ordered any disclosure.
It does not augur well for the largest democracy of the world that a large unregistered amorphous organization is permitted to function, in manner in which critics have analysed, is fundamentally inimical to democracy, the Indian Constitution, Tricolour and Notions of Equality and Justice.
The most important ideologue of RSS, Golwalkar declared as early as 1940:
“RSS inspired by one flag, one leader and one ideology is lighting the flame of Hindutva in each and every corner of this great land.
[[Golwalkar, MS, Shri Guruju Samgr Darshan (collected works of Golalkar in Hindi), Bhartiya Vichar Sadhna, Nagpur (RSS publication house), vol. I, n. d., p. 11.]
On the eve of independence, Organiser (dated August 14, 1947) denigrated Tricolour in the following words:
“The people who have come to power by the kick of fate may give in our hands the Tricolour but it will never be respected and owned by Hindus. The word three is in itself an evil, and a flag having three colours will certainly produce a very bad psychological effect and is injurious to a country.”
The Constituent Assembly of India finalised the Constitution of India on November 26, 1949, and the RSS was “aggrieved”
Its organ, Organiser in an editorial on November 30, 1949, complained: “But in our Constitution there is no mention of the unique constitutional development in ancient Bharat. Manu’s Laws were written long before Lycurgus of Sparta or Solon of Persia. To this day, his laws as enunciated in the Manusmriti excite the admiration of the world and elicit spontaneous obedience and conformity. But to our constitutional pundits that means nothing.” RSS has never denied this preferential choice. Mind it, this text Manusmriti is not against Muslims or Christians but treats Hindu women and Sudras as “lower than animals.”
Today RSS is the backbone of a regime that has been in power for a decade. Bhagwat’s response to accountability by equating its 100 years’ of existence with ‘Hindu Dharm’ is a sign of political arrogance. Even Mohammad Ali Jinnah had equated the separatist and sectarian Muslim League with Islam!
If the Congress led by Priyank Kharge, Karnataka’s home minister ranges in this amorphous network, long-pending answers may be available to the people of India. Answers awaited since the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi!
June 16, 2026
Disclaimer: The views expressed here are the author’s personal views, and do not necessarily represent the views of Sabrangindia.
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