Leaders of Opposition parties deemed it an insult to the Constitution, claiming that the organisation had no role in India's struggle for freedom
Published Oct 02, 2025 | 2:25 PM ⚊ Updated Oct 02, 2025 | 2:25 PM
PM Narendra Modi Released the coin and the stamp marking 100 years of RSS.
Synopsis: Leaders of Opposition parties deemed the commemorative stamp and a coin celebrating 100 years of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh an insult to the Constitution, claiming that the organisation had no role in India’s struggle for freedom
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, 1 October, unveiled a commemorative stamp and a coin celebrating 100 years of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Modi said they are released to honour the organisation’s journey and ‘service to the nation’.
Leaders of Opposition parties deemed it an insult to the Constitution, claiming that the organisation had no role in India’s struggle for freedom
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan called it a “grave insult to the Constitution,” he said the move sought to legitimise an organisation that had abstained from the freedom struggle while propagating a divisive ideology.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin alleged that the RSS, whose ideology was responsible for Gandhi’s assassination, is now being legitimised through the release of a commemorative postal stamp and coin by the nation’s highest office.
Karnataka Minister Priyank Kharge said the launch marked the distortion of history. Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal said it is a deep insult to India’s freedom struggle and the Constitution.
In a post on X, Vijayan warned that the Union government’s decision was an “assault on the memory of genuine freedom fighters and the secular, inclusive India they envisioned.”
He cautioned against the dangers posed by “combative right-wing Hindu nationalism” on Gandhi Jayanti, reminding that Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated by “Hindu majoritarian extremists” for upholding secularism and democracy.
In a Facebook note, the chief minister said the Union government was attempting to rewrite history by supplanting Gandhi with VD Savarkar, whom he described as an RSS ideologue facing trial in the Gandhi assassination case. “The RSS feared even Gandhi’s memory,” he wrote.
In his message, Stalin said that Mahatma Gandhi, who laid the foundation for India’s secular ethos, continues to inspire people to resist divisive forces that seek to sow seeds of hatred.
Calling the release a “disgraceful situation,” the chief minister urged the people of India to take a collective pledge on Gandhi’s birth anniversary to protect the country from such moves.
Speaking earlier at the third death anniversary of former CPI(M) Kerala secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan in Kannur, Vijayan alleged that the RSS aspired for a Hindu theocracy modelled on “Hitler’s fascism” that relegated minorities, Dalits, tribals, and backward classes to second-class citizenship.
He also accused the Congress of ideological ambiguity in defending secularism, claiming it enabled the BJP’s eventual rise.
Meanwhile, the CPI(M) Politburo also condemned the release, describing it as a “grave injury and insult” to the Constitution. The party said it was highly objectionable for an official coin to feature the RSS’s Bharat Mata image and accused the government of falsifying history by depicting swayamsevaks in the 1963 Republic Day parade.
Party General Secretary MA Baby said the prime minister was “misusing his office to glorify the RSS and distort India’s freedom struggle.”
Describing the RSS as a reflection of India’s “eternal national consciousness,” Modi said the Sangh’s role will remain pivotal in the collective mission to transform India into a developed nation by 2047.
However, the CPI(M) slammed the move, saying, “It is highly objectionable that an official coin should replicate the “Bharat Mata” image of a Hindu goddess promoted by the RSS as a symbol of its sectarian concept of a Hindutva Rashtra.”
“This entire exercise is to whitewash the shameful role of the RSS which was not just distant from the freedom struggle but actually strengthened the British strategy of divide and rule, thus seeking to weaken the unity of the people of India which was a crucial component of the struggle against colonial rule. The history of independent India has seen the worst communal violence in which the role of the RSS has been detailed in numerous reports of official commissions of inquiry.”
“Today it is the RSS and its Parivar who continue to target minority communities and also marginalized sections of society through the promotion of manuvadi ideologies. This is the reality of the history of the RSS that the Prime Minister seeks to conceal, by misusing his position. In doing so, he has lowered the dignity of the constitutional position he holds,” it added.
Priyank Kharge said in a post on X, “100 years of RSS. And after a century, their ‘biggest achievement’ is claiming they marched in the Republic Day Parade by invitation’. The Prime Minister has gone so far as to release a coin and a stamp to glorify the RSS’ march and supposed invitation by Pt. Nehru in 1963.” Kharge called it a “distortion of history.”
Kharge further claimed that RSS has made zero contribution to India’s freedom, progress or democracy. “The reality is, in 1963, after the Sino-Indian War, the Republic Day was observed as a citizens’ march, not the usual military parade. Hundreds organisations and groups participated voluntarily. The RSS was just one of them, and there was NO INVITATION, no recognition and no distinction,” he continued in the X post.
Leader of Opposition in Kerala Assembly VD Satheesan said that it was an insult to our freedom struggle and added that the RSS never fought for independence, but betrayed it.
“Shameful! PM releasing a stamp & coin for the RSS is an insult to our freedom struggle. #RSS never fought for independence—it betrayed it. Glorifying them is rewriting history, and the people of India will never accept this disgrace,” he wrote on X.
Venugopal said that the day must be seen as a dark day in our history.
“Inaugurating a commemorative coin and stamp to honour the RSS is a deep insult to India’s freedom struggle and the Constitution. Honouring an organisation that actively collaborated with India’s colonial masters and continues to spread poison in society to this day must be seen as a dark day in our history,” he wrote on X.
“How can an organisation that was banned by Sardar Patel be honoured today by the Indian Government? How can those who advocate for rewriting our Constitution and destroying the social justice agenda given to us by Dr. Ambedkar be celebrated as national icons?” he questioned.
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil with inputs from Dileep V Kumar, Anisha Reddy and Subash Chandra Bose.)
