"Anti-India Forces Demanding RSS Ban!": Baba Ramdev slams Congress

New Delhi [India], November 2 (ANI): Yoga Guru and Patanjali Ayurved co-founder Baba Ramdev on Sunday slammed the Congress for demanding a ban on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), alleging that "certain anti-India forces" are running an agenda to oppose the sanatani way of life and the Hindutva groups in the country.
Ramdev's remarks come in the wake of Mallikarajun Kharge's attack on the RSS on October 31 in which the Congress chief said that he favoured a ban on the organisation, comparing its ideology with "poison."
"RSS is a nationalist organisation, from Hedgewar to Golwalkar who have practiced penance, there have been many great people in it and this time too there are lakhs of karyakartas who are working for the nation. It is the anti-national powers, who protest the Sanatani way which want to oppose the RSS or any Hinudtvawadi powers, they have an agenda of theirs," the Yoga guru told ANI in an exclusive interview.
Continuing his jibe at the Congress party, he alleged that the Opposition party has been focusing on the RSS because they cannot defeat the political wing of the Sangh, the Bharatiya Janata Party and cannot face Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
"RSS is not a political party, the political wing is BJP. If you want to fight then should fight with Modi ji and Amit Shah ji. They (Congress) cannot defeat them, cannot fight them so they keep on saying indecent things against RSS. I have been watching the RSS closely for a long time, there are many good ascetic people in the organisation," Ramdev said. "It is clear that those whose thoughts don't match with Bharat or Bhartiyata, they have this type of agenda," he added
The topic of banning the RSS has gained traction in recent days with Kharge and other Congress leaders repeatedly claimed that the ideals of the RSS are harmful to the Constitution and the idea of India.
"These are my personal views and I openly say that there should be one (a ban on the RSS). If PM respects the views presented by Vallabhbhai Patel, this should be done. All the wrongs in the country and all law and order issues here are due to BJP and RSS," Kharge said on October 31.
He recalled Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel's letter to Syama Prasad Mukherjee which stated that the way RSS rejoiced after Mahatma Gandhi's death, saying there was no option but to ban them. He stressed that the RSS had distributed sweets after the assassination of Gandhi.
"Patel wrote a letter stating that after the way the RSS people rejoiced at Gandhi's death, there was no option left but to ban them. He wrote this letter to Syama Prasad Mukherjee...The speeches of the Sangh people are full of venom; they distributed sweets after Gandhi's assassination. He also wrote this letter to Golwalkar," Kharge said.
Previoulsy, the Congress President's son and Karnataka Minister Priyank Kharge had urged state Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to bar RSS activities in government schools, colleges, and state-owned temples, accusing the organisation of "brainwashing young minds" and promoting a "philosophy against the Constitution."
Following Kharge's remarks, RSS Sarkaryavah (General Secretary) Dattatreya Hosabale replied by saying that the organisation has been accepted by the public.
"There must be a reason behind the ban. What will be gained by banning an RSS that is engaged in nation-building? The public has already accepted the RSS," Hosabale said during a press conference in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, following the organisation's second day of the Akhil Bharatiya Karyakarni Mandal meet.
The meeting was called by RSS sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat in the Kachnar city, to discuss the programmes marking the 100 years of the Sangh and discussing other national issues.
RSS, a 100-year-old organisation, has worked in social services across the country. While the organisation stays away from politics, certain leaders of the RSS had formed the BJP in 1980. The organisation has been banned three times in Independent India.
The first time the organisation was banned was following the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi in 1948 by Nathuram Godse. Then Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel issued a government notification ordering the ban, which was lifted a year later. An investigation into Gandhi's assassination did not find any involvement of the RSS in the event.
The second time, it was banned during the Emergency, in 1975, by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The third time, it was banned was in 1992, following the demolition of Babri masjid. (ANI)