'People have accepted RSS': Dattatreya Hosabale responds to Mallikarjun Kharge; Congress chief called for ban on Sangh

NEW DELHI: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale on Saturday questioned the rationale behind Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge ’s call to ban the organisation, arguing that the Sangh is "devoted to nation-building" and "enjoys public support."

“There must be a reason for any ban. What will be achieved by targeting the RSS, which is engaged in nation-building? The public has already accepted us,” Hosabale told reporters in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, during a press conference following the second day of the Akhil Bharatiya Karyakarni Mandal meeting.

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Hosabale’s comments came a day after Kharge accused both the RSS and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of being responsible for “all the wrongs” in the country.

“If Prime Minister Modi respects Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel ’s views, this (RSS ban) should be done,” Kharge remarked on Friday, the 150th birth anniversary of Patel, India’s first home minister. As home minister, the Congress stalwart had imposed a ban on the RSS in February 1948 following Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination; it was lifted in July 1949.

Founded in 1925, the RSS serves as the ideological parent of the BJP. It is based in Maharashtra's Nagpur, the city where it was founded.