RSS meet in K’taka from July 10 amid row over Priyank Kharge’s ‘registration’ demand
New Delhi/Bengaluru: The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) will hold its three-day Prant Pracharak (State Pracharak) meeting in Belagavi, Karnataka, from July 10 to 12, according to sources. The development has assumed significance amid Karnataka Home Minister Priyank Kharge repeatedly demanding that the RSS furnish its registration documents.
The annual organisational meeting is expected to bring together the RSS’s top leadership and senior functionaries from across the country, including its chief Mohan Bhagwat, Sarkaryawah Dattatreya Hosabale, all Prant Pracharaks, and organisational secretaries representing various affiliated organisations.
Sources said the meeting will review the Sangh’s organisational activities over the past year and finalise plans for programmes and expansion initiatives to be undertaken in the coming months.
The deliberations are expected to focus on strengthening organisational coordination, reviewing the implementation of ongoing activities, expanding outreach programmes, and setting priorities for the RSS and its affiliated organisations.
Senior functionaries from different states are also expected to present reports on organisational developments in their respective regions and discuss strategies to strengthen the Sangh’s grassroots network.
The Prant Pracharak meeting is regarded as one of the RSS’s key internal organisational gatherings. It serves as a platform for senior office-bearers to assess progress, exchange feedback from across the country, and formulate the roadmap for the organisation’s nationwide activities.
The meeting is scheduled to conclude on July 12 after three days of deliberations.
It can be recalled that the controversy began after Karnataka Home Minister Priyank Kharge wrote to RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat in June asking the organisation to formally register itself and publicly disclose details about its legal status, funding, finances, office-bearers, assets and tax compliance. Kharge argued that an organisation of the RSS’s size and influence should operate with greater transparency and accountability under the law.
Defending his stand, Kharge said the Home Department provides security for RSS events and its leaders, giving the government the right to seek information about the organisation. “I want to know whom I am giving security to,” he said, rejecting BJP allegations that he was seeking to ban the RSS.
The remarks triggered a sharp political confrontation. The BJP and RSS accused Kharge of targeting the Sangh for political reasons and defended the organisation’s functioning. RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat said there was “nothing to hide” and described the demand as politically motivated.
The controversy later escalated into a legal dispute after a Bengaluru court took cognisance of a private complaint over Kharge’s remarks and issued summons to him, further intensifying the Congress-BJP war of words over the RSS.