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Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge has also once again said that he believes the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) should be banned in the country
Talking about Sardar Patel’s legacy, Akhilesh pledged that if his party returns to power, it will establish a university in the late Congress leader’s name. File pic/PTI
Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav on Friday invoked the legacy of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel to criticise the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), asserting that India’s first Home Minister had once banned the organisation. Addressing reporters, Yadav took a swipe at the RSS and said, “You can check on ChatGPT why Sardar Patel banned the RSS. Hindu Mahasabha and RSS both were banned as they had an alleged role in the killing of Mahatma Gandhi. This is as per ChatGPT.”
Akhilesh’s comments came on the occasion of Rashtriya Ekta Diwas, which is observed annually to commemorate Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s birth anniversary.
Historically, the RSS was indeed banned by the Government of India on February 4, 1948, shortly after Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, then serving as Home Minister, approved the ban following widespread reports that the organisation’s members had been celebrating Gandhi’s death and promoting communal hostility. The official notification stated that the “cult of violence sponsored and inspired by the activities of the Sangh” had contributed to the atmosphere that led to Gandhi’s murder.
In correspondence from that period, Patel wrote that the RSS’s activities posed “a clear threat to the existence of government and the state”. However, while he condemned the organisation’s conduct, he also clarified that there was no conclusive evidence directly linking the RSS as an institution to Gandhi’s assassination. The government demanded that the RSS adopt a formal constitution, accept the national flag and the Constitution of India, and operate transparently if it wished to be unbanned.
After several months of negotiations, the ban on the RSS was lifted on July 11, 1949, when the organisation agreed to abide by these conditions. The Hindu Mahasabha, which was also under scrutiny due to the involvement of some of its members in Gandhi’s killing, was not formally banned nationwide but remained politically marginalised for several years thereafter.
Talking about Sardar Patel’s legacy, Akhilesh pledged that if his party returns to power, it will establish a university in the late Congress leader’s name.
Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge has also once again said that he believes the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) should be banned in the country.
“My personal opinion is that RSS should be banned,” Kharge said at a press conference on Friday. “Sardar Patel also said that one should not work for the RSS while in government service. He had banned government employees from participating in the activities of the RSS and Jamaat-e-Islami, which the Modi government lifted on July 9, 2024. We demand that this ban be reinstated.”
Pathikrit Sen Gupta is a Senior Associate Editor with News18.com and likes to cut a long story short. He writes sporadically on Politics, Sports, Global Affairs, Space, Entertainment, And Food. He trawls X via …Read More
Pathikrit Sen Gupta is a Senior Associate Editor with News18.com and likes to cut a long story short. He writes sporadically on Politics, Sports, Global Affairs, Space, Entertainment, And Food. He trawls X via … Read More
October 31, 2025, 18:58 IST
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