New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday hailed 100 years of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) as a “very proud and glorious” journey of the “world’s biggest NGO” and lauded all its volunteers for their dedicated service to the nation.
Addressing the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort on the 79th Independence Day, he said the nation is not built by the government or those sitting in power only.
It is built by the efforts of crores of people, including saints, seers, scientists, teachers, farmers, soldiers, labourers, individuals, and organisations, he said.
“Today I want to mention one thing with great pride that 100 years ago an organisation was born — the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. Its 100 years of national service has been a very proud and glorious page,” said Modi, who has been an RSS pracharak in the past.
For the past 100 years, the RSS swayamsevaks (volunteers) have been dedicating their lives to fulfil the resolve of ‘vyakti nirman‘ (character development) and ‘rashtra nirman‘ (nation building) for the welfare of ‘matrubhoomi‘ (motherland), he said.
“From the ramparts of the Red Fort today, I respectfully remember all the swayamsevaks who have contributed to these 100 years of national service,” he added.
The prime minister said service, dedication, organisation, and unparalleled discipline are the identity of the RSS, “which is in a way the world’s biggest non-government organisation (NGO)”.
The country is proud of 100 years of “dedicated and glorious” journey of the RSS, he said, adding, “It will keep inspiring us”.
It was probably for the first time Prime Minister Modi has talked at length about the RSS in his Independence Day speech.
More 83,000 shakhas are organised by the RSS’ full-time workers every day at 51,570 places across the country, according to details shared by senior RSS functionaries at a press conference in Bengaluru. With the RSS completing 100 years of its foundation on this VIjayadashmi, it has planned to organise a series of events, including more than 1 lakh ‘Hindu Sammelans’, across the country to mark its centenary year, with its chief Mohan Bhagwat’s address at RSS headquarters in Nagpur on October 2 this year.
Important to learn history: Owaisi’s dig at PM’s RSS statement
Taking a dig at the prime minister’s RSS’s statement, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi said it has become even more important to read history and learn who the real heroes of India’s independence struggle are. “If we don’t, the day isn’t far when cowardice will be sold to us as the highest form of bravery. RSS rejects the values of inclusive nationalism that motivated our freedom fighters,” he said.
Expressing grave concern, he said that glorifying the RSS in an Independence Day speech is an insult to the freedom struggle. “Modi could have gone to Nagpur to praise RSS as a Swayamsevak, why did he have to do it from the Red Fort as the Prime Minister?” he lashed out at the prime minister.
“The RSS and its ideological allies served as British foot soldiers. They never joined the fight for independence and hated Gandhi more than they ever opposed the British,” the Hyderabad MP said.
PM dishonoured martyrs by praising RSS: CPI(M)
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) said it is “deeply regrettable” that Prime Minister Narendra Modi chose to praise the RSS in his Independence Day speech, and called it an organisation with a “dubious historical record.”
General Secretary MA Baby said that the RSS was banned following the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi and historians have documented the organisation’s role in “inciting communal riots.” He alleged that by lauding the RSS, the prime minister “has dishonoured the memory of our martyrs”.
“It is deeply regrettable that Prime Minister Modi, in his Independence Day address from the Red Fort, chose to praise the RSS — an organisation with a dubious historical record. An organisation which had no role whatsoever in these struggles and has consistently sought to undermine national unity along religious lines,” Baby said in a post on X.
“Historians have documented its role in inciting communal riots and other violence. Notably, the organisation was banned following the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, the leader of our freedom struggle,” he said.
“By lauding the RSS on this Independence Day, Prime Minister Modi has dishonoured the memory of our martyrs and the spirit of our freedom movement. This is profoundly unacceptable and shameful,” he added.
‘Sanghi-saathi’ should thank British; Akhilesh
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav took a veiled dig at the RSS after it was lauded by the prime minister, saying it should thank the British on completion of its 100 years as some organisations were made by them so that the country could be divided on religious lines.
“This group of Sanghi saathis… I want to remind them that when the BJP was formed and the person who became the first national president of the BJP, in its first session, it was decided that the political ideology of the party would be socialist and secular.
“And, on this completion of 100 years, they should congratulate the British. Because we have heard and some historians have also written that some organisations were made by the British so that ‘Bharat’ could be divided on religious lines, a gulf could be created between Hindus and Muslims.
“Hence, the Sanghi saathis, whose first ideology is socialist and secular, they should remember it, so that the country can move forward,” Yadav said.
Follow on Twitter | Posted by Veena Nair | 
