RSS ban row: Priyank Kharge releases clip, says threats won’t unsettle him

Bengaluru: The row over the proposal to ban activities of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in Karnataka took another turn on Wednesday, with Priyank Kharge, the Minister for RDPR, IT and BT, releasing an abusive video and audio clip and said he is not unnerved by this.

“If they think threats and abuses will unsettle me, it is only their illusion,” he said.

Minister Kharge has released a 2.12-minute video showing his conversation with an unknown caller. In the clip, the caller, speaking in Hindi over the phone, questions Kharge about his proposal to ban RSS activities and then begins using abusive language. In response, Minister Kharge is seen asking the caller whether he learned such abuses in the RSS.

Kharge, in his statement released with the clip, stated, “I had said that the RSS is polluting the minds of youth and children. Here is a small example of what that pollution looks like. This is just a sample from the continuous stream of threats and abusive calls I have been receiving for the past few days. Is this the kind of ‘culture’ imparted in their shakhas — to hurl vile abuses dragging the names of one’s mother and sisters?”

“Would BJP leaders like B.Y. Vijayendra, R. Ashoka, C.T. Ravi, Sunil Kumar, Pratap Simha, and Chalavadi Narayanaswamy approve if similar abuses were hurled at the mothers of Narendra Modi and Mohan Bhagwat?” Priyank Kharge questioned.

“While the children of BJP leaders are shaping their bright futures, the children of the poor are being used to abuse, threaten, and become victims of this toxic system. If I file a complaint, it may harm the life of the individual caller, but those who pushed him into such a mindset will face no consequences,” he opined.

“Our fight is not against individuals; it is against the filthy mindset that the RSS is spreading, against the vile forces that brainwash innocent minds and corrupt their thinking. We must bring back those who have become foot soldiers of the RSS from perversion to ideology, by introducing them to the enlightened thoughts of Buddha, Basava, and Ambedkar,” Priyank Kharge stated.

“I am fighting, and will continue to take firm steps, to prevent innocent children and youth from falling prey to such a corrupt system,” he stressed.

“If they think threats and abuses will unsettle me, that is only their illusion. For me, politics is not just about power, it is ideological politics — people-centric politics that seeks to rescue innocent youth from a vicious cycle of poison,” he concluded.

Priyank Kharge stated on Tuesday that he and his family have been subjected to threats and abuse for the past two days for questioning the RSS and demanding a ban on its activities in public spaces.

The Minister had written a letter to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah regarding a ban on RSS activities in public spaces and in the premises of schools and college grounds, stirring a controversy. Countering this, the BJP released a photo showing Mallikarjun Kharge at an RSS meeting in Bengaluru and slammed him.

Priyank Kharge, further defending his demand to ban the public activities of the RSS, maintained on Monday that his father, AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge, had gone to an RSS event only to warn them against creating mischief.

Also, responding to the incident of a suicide by a Kerala man allegedly because of years of sexual abuse at RSS camps, Priyank Kharge alleged that sexual harassment is happening within the RSS in the state as well.

Following Kharge’s letter seeking a ban on RSS activities in public places, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has directed the Chief Secretary to study the action taken in Tamil Nadu and initiate similar measures in Karnataka.

IANS