India Cannot Achieve Lasting Peace Until RSS Ideology Is Dismantled: Kharge
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge criticises the RSS ideology, placing secularism and religious pluralism at the centre of the political debate.
New Delhi: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has said that India cannot achieve lasting peace until the ideology of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is dismantled, highlighting the continuing political debate over nationalism, secularism and communal harmony.
Kharge’s remarks reflect the Congress party’s longstanding criticism of the RSS and its influence on Indian politics. The Congress has argued that the organisation’s ideological vision conflicts with India’s pluralistic and secular traditions.
The RSS, which is widely regarded as the ideological inspiration of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), promotes a vision of Indian nationalism centred on Hindu cultural identity. The organisation and its supporters reject allegations that its ideology threatens religious minorities and maintain that their understanding of nationalism serves the country’s interests.
The statement has once again brought questions of religious pluralism, minority rights and constitutional values into political discussion. The Congress maintains that India’s Constitution guarantees equal treatment for citizens regardless of religion and that communal polarisation can undermine social harmony.
The RSS’s role in Indian public life remains a subject of political disagreement, particularly over the relationship between religious identity, nationalism and the country’s secular constitutional framework.