Hitting out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for describing the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) as the “world’s biggest NGO”, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday accused him of “speaking as an RSS pracharak from the ramparts of the Red Fort” rather than as the leader of 140 crore Indians.
Siddaramaiah claimed the RSS is “the world’s biggest for-political-profit, for-hate, and most divisive organisation—unregistered, non-tax-paying, and conspiring to pit Indians against each other.”
Earlier in the day, Modi had hailed 100 years of the RSS as a “very proud and glorious” journey of the “world’s biggest NGO” and saluted its volunteers for their service to the nation. Addressing the nation from the Red Fort on the 79th Independence Day, he said the country is not built by the government alone but by the efforts of people across society.
Quoting from Modi’s remarks, Siddaramaiah claimed on ‘X’: “Let’s be clear: the RSS is not an NGO. It is an unregistered, non-tax-paying organisation that thrives on political profit and hate, and conspires to divide Indians.”
He alleged the Red Fort was “not a BJP rally stage” but a place of historical significance from where the prime minister must speak for all citizens, not promote his party’s parent body.
“By praising the RSS, PM Modi spoke as an RSS pracharak, not as the leader of 140 crore people,” Siddaramaiah alleged, calling the remarks a “desperate move to appease the RSS” when Modi was “politically weakened and reliant on its backing.”
The chief minister claimed Modi had “lost the moral right” to speak for the whole country by endorsing an organisation that “had no role in the freedom struggle, opposed the tricolour, and worked against the idea of an equal and inclusive India.”
Calling the RSS an outfit whose ideology inspired Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination and which was banned three times for “spreading hate”, Siddaramaiah accused it of twisting Hinduism—”a faith of diversity and tolerance”—into a narrow vision that treats those outside it as second-class citizens.
He alleged the RSS has “engineered and fuelled communal violence for decades” and “corrupted young minds through its networks.”
He asked whether the prime minister did not see that its “supremacist vision denies equality, poisons harmony, and contradicts the Constitution.”
“Independence Day is a time to honour those who united India,” he said, alleging that “instead, PM Modi glorified a force that thrives on polarisation, collaborated with the British, and mirrors their authoritarianism.”
“Our freedom was won by people of every religion, caste, and language under the tricolour. No organisation is bigger than that unity or above the Constitution. No Prime Minister can turn Independence Day into a tribute to those who divide India,” he claimed.
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