The Congress party has made an open call to put a ban on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), stating that Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel wanted to ban the organisation after the assassination of former PM Indira Gandhi. Making an address on the birth anniversary of Sardar Patel, the Iron Man of India, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge said if PM Narendra Modi respects the views of Sardar Patel, then RSS should be banned.
“These are my personal views and I openly say that there should be one (a ban on the RSS). If the PM respects the views presented by Vallabhbhai Patel, this should be done. All the wrongs in the country and all law & order issues here are due to BJP and RSS,” Kharge said.
VIDEO | Delhi: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge says, “In my personal opinion, the RSS should be banned. If the Prime Minister truly values what Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel had stood for, then it should be done. The deterioration of law and order and several issues facing the… pic.twitter.com/YiFByjz06M
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) October 31, 2025
He said Patel, along with the Iron Lady of India, Indira Gandhi put every possible effort to maintain the unity of the country. Kharge talked about how Patel wrote to Syama Prasad Mukherjee which stated that the way RSS rejoiced after Gandhi’s death, there was no option but to ban them.
“Patel wrote a letter stating that after the way the RSS people rejoiced at Gandhi’s death, there was no option left but to ban them. He wrote this letter to Syama Prasad Mukherjee…The speeches of the Sangh people are full of venom; they distributed sweets after Gandhi’s assassination. He also wrote this letter to Golwalkar,” Kharge said.
Quoting the recent changes in the NCERT textbooks, Kharge said that references to Mahatma Gandhi, Godse, the RSS, and the 2002 Gujarat riots have been removed from them. He said that erasing the truth from textbooks is not right as it “reveals their intentions”.
“They always try to turn lies into truth. Our Prime Minister is an expert in this, and his followers are walking the same path. Sardar Patel had banned the RSS to protect secularism,” Kharge added.
Akhilesh Yadav’s call to ban RSS
The ‘ban RSS’ call was first made by Kharge’s son and Karnataka Minister Priyank Kharge, who said the RSS activities must not be allowed in government institutions. This led to a huge controversy with the BJP attacking Congress.
Now, on the 150th birth anniversary of Sardar Patel, Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav said there was the need for someone to be the Iron Man again and ban RSS.
#WATCH | Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh: Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav says, "…today, the need is that someone in this country should become Sardar Patel and ban this (RSS) ideology again."
— ANI (@ANI) October 31, 2025
"Sardar Patel made a huge contribution. He united the country, abolished princely… pic.twitter.com/M9jKfbfSJn
“Sardar Patel made a huge contribution. He united the country, abolished princely states, made our country strong, and stood up for the farmers. We can never forget his contribution. The Bharatiya Janata Party should remember that its parent party, that organisation was banned by Sardar Patel, and today the need is that someone become a Sardar Patel in this country and ban this ideology again,” he said.
“The US President called our Prime Minister a killer. The Bharatiya Janata Party should explain why a country like America is calling its Prime Minister a killer…”
“We are ready for anything. But we will not allow the vote to be rigged. Just think how casteist the people of the Bharatiya Janata Party are. They are not making BLOs from the PDA community…” the former UP CM added.