New Delhi: After Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the RSS for its role in nation-building, the Congress reminded him on Wednesday that Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel had said at the time that the Sangh’s activities created an atmosphere that led to the killing of Mahatma Gandhi.
In a post on X, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said, “The PM has spoken much of the RSS this morning. Is he even aware of what Sardar Patel wrote to Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee on July 18, 1948?”
He shared extracts from a letter written by then Home Minister Patel to Mookerjee, in which he had said, “As regards the RSS and the Hindu Mahasabha, the case relating to Gandhiji’s murder is sub-judice and I should not like to say anything about the participation of the two organisations, but our reports do confirm that, as a result of the activities of these two bodies, particularly the former, an atmosphere was created in the country in which such a ghastly tragedy became possible….
“The activities of the RSS constituted a clear threat to the existence of government and the State. Our reports show that those activities, despite the ban, have not died down. Indeed, as time has marched on, the RSS circles are becoming more defiant and are indulging in their subversive activities in an increasing measure….”
Modi lauded the RSS on Wednesday and said the organisation never displayed any bitterness despite several attacks on it as it continued to work on the principle of nation first.
Participating in the centenary celebrations of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) here, the prime minister highlighted the organisation’s contribution in nation-building.
“The Sangh has fought against the atrocities of the British. Its only interest has always been love towards the nation,” he said, adding that RSS volunteers gave shelter to freedom fighters and its leaders were also jailed during the struggle for independence.
The prime minister said there have been numerous attempts to crush the spirit of the RSS by levelling allegations and registering false cases against the organisation.
“The RSS has never been bitter, despite attempts to make false cases against it, attempts to ban it and other challenges, because we are part of a society where we accept both the good and the bad,” he said, in an apparent reference to the ban on the Sangh after Gandhi’s assassination.
