The Congress on Thursday cited excerpts from a book by Mahatma Gandhi’s aide Pyarelal to claim that the Father of the Nation had described the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) as a “communal body with a totalitarian outlook”.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said the remarks were recorded in Mahatma Gandhi: The Last Phase, published by Navajivan Publishing House. According to PTI, the first volume appeared in 1956 with an introduction by then President Dr Rajendra Prasad and an endorsement by Vice-President Dr S. Radhakrishnan, while the second volume was published in 1958.
On page 440 of the second volume, Pyarelal documented a conversation from 12 September 1947 in which Gandhi characterised the RSS as “a communal body with a totalitarian outlook”, Ramesh said. He noted that five months later, then Union home minister Sardar Patel banned the organisation.
Ramesh contrasted these remarks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address at the RSS centenary celebrations on Wednesday. Modi said the organisation had never displayed bitterness despite facing attacks and continued to work with the principle of “nation first”. He also released a commemorative stamp and a special coin featuring Bharat Mata for the first time on Indian currency.
Referring to historical records, Ramesh cited Patel’s letter to Syama Prasad Mookerjee dated 18 July 1948. PTI reported that in the letter, Patel wrote that while Gandhi’s murder case was sub judice, “our reports do confirm that, as a result of the activities of these two bodies [RSS and Hindu Mahasabha], particularly the former, an atmosphere was created in the country in which such a ghastly tragedy became possible”. Patel also wrote that the RSS’s activities posed “a clear threat to the existence of the government and the State”.
Ramesh also pointed to Patel’s speech at a public gathering in Jaipur on 19 December 1948, where Patel spoke sharply about the RSS’s role.
Separately, Congress general secretary K. C. Venugopal criticised the government’s decision to issue a stamp and coin for the centenary. He said on X that inaugurating these items was “a deep insult to India’s freedom struggle and the Constitution” and argued that an organisation banned by Sardar Patel should not be honoured. Venugopal also accused the RSS of collaborating with colonial rulers and of continuing to “spread poison in society”, adding that those advocating rewriting of the Constitution and dismantling B. R. Ambedkar’s social justice framework should not be celebrated as national icons.
(With inputs from PTI)
