Digvijaya backs Priyank Kharge call for RSS funding disclosure, says he’d written to Bhagwat, Nirmala too

New Delhi: Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Wednesday backed Karnataka Home Minister Priyank Kharge’s call for greater transparency from the RSS, saying the questions being raised about the organisation’s legal status, finances and accountability were the same ones he had been asking for years. 

Kharge had written an open letter to RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on 13 June, seeking details about the organisation’s legal status, registration, funding sources, financial disclosures and organisational structure, triggering a massive political row.

Kharge subsequently clarified that he was not seeking a ban on the RSS, but was asking for transparency. He further stated that while the RSS was free to function as a cultural organisation, its influence on public life required greater accountability and disclosure.

In a statement issued from Bhopal on Wednesday, Digvijay Singh backed Kharge’s intervention, and said the letter had once again brought several unanswered questions to the forefront.

The former Madhya Pradesh chief minister pointed to letters he had written to Mohan Bhagwat in 2025, and before that to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in 2021, on the subject. 

Singh said that in his letter to Sitharaman on 22 October 2021, he had sought an inquiry into the RSS’s registration status, sources of funding, income and expenditure, tax compliance and organisational accountability.

In the letter, he said, he asked why the RSS should not be subject to the same transparency and legal compliance rules as trusts, NGOs, societies and political parties.

Singh also said he had cited information given by Nagpur-based RTI activist Mohnish Jabalpure, according to whom, the RSS distributed more than seven crore food packets and one crore ration kits during the Covid-19 pandemic and questions regarding the source of funding for these have never received an official response.

In his letter to Bhagwat on 12 November 2025, the Congress leader objected to a statement by the RSS chief identifying the organisation with Hinduism (Santan Dharma). Singh said the Sanatan Dharma and the RSS could not be equated and that no organisation could claim to be synonymous with Hinduism.

The 2025 letter also sought answers regarding the RSS’s legal standing, financial sources, expenditure patterns, tax obligations and organisational accountability.

“Today, Priyank Kharge has raised many of the same questions that I have been asking publicly for a long time,” Singh said in the press note.

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‘It’s about rule of law’

Singh maintained that the issue was not about opposition to any individual or organisation but about ensuring equality before the Constitution, adherence to the rule of law, transparency and public accountability.

The outgoing Rajya Sabha MP further stated that if lakhs of trusts, voluntary organisations, religious institutions, societies, companies and political parties are required to disclose details of their financial sources and income and expenditure, it is also fair to expect the same of the RSS.

“In a democracy, no institution can be above questions and accountability,” Singh said.

Dear Shri Mohan Bhagwat ji,

My letter will reach you shortly. However, I thought it was important to draw your attention to this matter early.
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Firstly, congratulations to the RSS on completing 100 years.

An organisation that claims over 60,000 shakhas and crores of… pic.twitter.com/IZy4oeKdMp

— Priyank Kharge / ಪ್ರಿಯಾಂಕ್ ಖರ್ಗೆ (@PriyankKharge) June 15, 2026

Reiterating his demand, Singh urged the RSS to make public details relating to its legal status, organisational structure, sources of funding, income and expenditure, and tax compliance.

He further said that such a step would be in keeping with democratic values, constitutional principles and transparency in public life.

(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)

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