Karnataka minister Kharge stresses ‘accountability’ in RSS legal status row
Priyank Kharge was responding to BJP general secretary B L Santhosh’s remark that the RSS has always been unregistered and that ‘registration does not determine its existence’.
Priyank Kharge's remarks come against the backdrop of a Bill aiming to prevent groups such as the RSS from using public premises without permission. (File photo)
Karnataka Home Minister Priyank Kharge on Sunday asked the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh to reveal its legal status, assets, audited accounts, and statutory disclosures, after BJP general secretary (organisation) B L Santhosh said the RSS did not require registration to establish its existence.
In a post on X, Kharge wrote, “Nobody is questioning whether the RSS exists. The question is: under what law does it exist and under what legal identity does it function? … Existence is not the issue. Accountability is.”
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Kharge is among the Congress leaders in the state who have said the RSS should register under the relevant laws of the country and reveal its source of funding—demands the organisation has resisted.
Speaking at an event in Bengaluru on Saturday, Santhosh said the RSS had remained unregistered since pre-Independence days. “It is not registered even today. Registration does not determine its existence,” he said.
Kharge said that if the RSS did not have to register to establish its existence, then “tell the country: What exactly is its legal status? Who legally constitutes the RSS? Who owns its assets? In whose name are its bank accounts operated? Where are its audited accounts and statutory disclosures?”.
The minister further wrote that “a century-old organisation claiming enormous national reach should be able to answer these elementary questions”. “We exist” is not an answer to “Who are you accountable to?” he added.
Set to be discussed in the legislature’s ongoing monsoon session, the Bill aims to prevent groups such as the RSS from using public premises without permission from the authorities.
Priyank Kharge's remarks come against the backdrop of a Bill aiming to prevent groups such as the RSS from using public premises without permission. (File photo) 
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