Patel, Nehru, Army protected us, not RSS: Kharge counters Santhosh's claim

Karnataka Home Minister Priyank Kharge on Saturday rejected BJP leader B L Santhosh's claim that RSS workers had protected his (Kharge's) family from Razakars during Hyderabad state's integration with India, saying that his family and people of the region were protected by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Jawaharlal Nehru and the Indian Army.

Kharge's remarks came in response to Santhosh's assertion at an 'Akhand Bharat Sankalp Day' programme organised by the Hindu Jagarana Vedike here that RSS workers had confronted Razakars and protected Hindus during Partition.

"The RSS did not come to protect us. The people of our region were protected by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel and the Indian Army. The Indian Army came and protected us," Kharge said at a press conference in Kalaburagi.

Santhosh had claimed that Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge's family faced attacks by Razakars in the Hyderabad state and fled to Gulbarga (now Kalaburagi), and that RSS workers confronted the Razakars.

Addressing Priyank Kharge, he added, "Your family had to flee the village, and your father had to flee with only the clothes he was wearing".

Rejecting the claim, the minister said, "You claimed that you protected the Kharge family. After Partition, so many communal riots erupted. In which communal riot did you protect and help?"

"Yes, our family were victims of communal riots. We were forced to flee from there and come here. At that time, there was no one--no government, nothing. What did you do?" he said.

Kharge questioned Santhosh's claim about the RSS's role in the liberation of Hyderabad, asking, "Who carried out 'Operation Polo'? Was it the RSS? It was carried out by Patel, Nehru and the Army, not by the RSS," Kharge said.

Operation Polo was the code name for the Indian military operation in September 1948 that led to the integration of the princely state of Hyderabad with India.

Kharge also said the region's liberation was being commemorated as Hyderabad Karnataka Liberation Day and rejected the claim that the RSS did it.

"Don't live under the illusion that you helped everyone. RSS did not protect us," he said.

Kharge also alleged that the RSS had contributed to communal tensions rather than protecting people during communal violence.

"After Nathuram Godse, Savarkar's disciple, inspired by RSS ideology, shot Mahatma Gandhi, there were riots in Kolkata and Delhi," he alleged.

"You are an organisation that creates communal riots, not an organisation that comes forward to protect people when communal riots take place," Kharge claimed.

He also questioned Santhosh's reference to V D Savarkar and Subhas Chandra Bose's Indian National Army (INA).

"When Subhas Chandra Bose was building the INA and was looking for soldiers and recruiting people, it was Savarkar who called upon people not to join INA but to join the British Army," Kharge said.

"Because of Sardar Patel's firm resolve, we are seeing an undivided India today. Around 560 small states and princely states were brought together, and India became a nation. Not because of the RSS," he said.

Referring to Sardar Patel's statue at S V P Chowk in Kalaburagi, Kharge challenged, asking, "Show me just one statue of an RSS leader, pracharak, or Sarsanghchalak anywhere in the country saying, "Yes, these are true patriots; they belong to us; they protected us; their service to our society has been immense".

Santhosh defended the RSS against Kharge's demand that it be registered.

"At that time too, the RSS was not registered, and it is not registered even today. Registration does not determine its existence; it is an organisation working through the trust of millions of people," Santhosh said.

He said the RSS had stood by Hindus during Partition and continued to function without formal registration.

Santhosh also said the country's Independence was secured through the sacrifices of thousands of revolutionaries and freedom fighters and not merely through the Salt Satyagraha or spinning the charkha.

"We attained freedom because lakhs of patriotic young men and women and lakhs of soldiers fought by putting their lives at stake," he said.

Referring to revolutionaries including Madan Lal Dhingra, Chandrashekhar Azad, Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru, Santhosh said their sacrifices had to be remembered while marking the 80th year of Independence.

"Freedom was not given to us. The British did not simply give us freedom," he said.

Santhosh also claimed that a decline in the Hindu population in a region "would weaken its sense of belonging to India and a feeling of anti-nationalism begins to emerge there".

Santhosh also said that no Hindu candidate from any political party had won in Bengaluru's Shivajinagar and Chamarajapet constituencies for two decades and challenged political parties to field such candidates in the next election.

"Why should Hindus remain a majority? Not to defeat anyone. Hindus should remain a majority because India must remain India," he said.

He attributed the demand for Pakistan to demographic changes and alleged that the Muslim League's political mobilisation eventually led to Partition.

Santhosh also called for a resolve to work towards 'Akhand Bharat'.

"The idea of an undivided India is not an administrative dream. It is a cultural dream. It is a nationalist dream," he said.