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Priyank Kharge Vs RSS Again: The fresh applications come amid an escalating political confrontation over RSS’s activities, use of public spaces
(Left) Priyank Kharge; RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat (File)
As the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) seeks police permission for processions in Bengaluru’s Laggere and Kamalanagar, Karnataka Home Minister Priyank Kharge is heading into another confrontation with the Sangh.
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has written to the Bengaluru police seeking permission to hold Vijayadashami processions on October 25.
The fresh applications come amid an escalating political confrontation over the RSS’s activitiesthe use of public spaces and the government’s insistence that organisations follow the prescribed procedure before holding public processions.
The RSS has submitted separate applications for route marches in Laggere and Kamalanagar. In Laggere, the RSS has written to the Nandini Layout Police Station and the Nandini Layout Traffic Police Inspector, seeking permission for a procession between 9 am and 12.30 pm. The march is scheduled to begin at 9.30 am from Gate 1 of the Apollo National School ground near Chowdeshwari Nagar. The proposed route covers Srinivasa Temple Road, Pipeline Bridge, SVS School Road, 50 Feet Main Road, Ram Mandir Road, before ending at Gate of Apollo National School.
A separate application has been submitted to the Circle Inspector of Mahalakshmi Layout Police Station. The procession is proposed to begin at 9 am from the ground next to the Shiva Temple on Pipeline Road, pass through Kempegowda Layout and Kasturi Layout, and return to the starting point. The organisers have also proposed a stage, microphones, chairs, banners, buntings and flags. All central being within Bengaluru city police limits.
However, Karnataka Home Minister Kharge has maintained that the prescribed procedure must be followed and that the RSS must obtain permission rather than merely inform the police department or ask it to make the necessary arrangements. Attaching a copy of the request letter, he tweeted on X saying privation needs to be footage, not just merely informing the police.
Dear Priyank Kharge,Your argument about prior police permission, traffic management and public resources must apply equally to every organisation and religious gathering, without discrimination.
The same standards should apply when roads are blocked for Eid-e-Milad processions or when public roads are used for mass Namaz during Ramadan. Are the same rules, permission requirements and traffic regulations enforced in those cases as well?
If permission is mandatory for RSS route marches, it must be mandatory for everyone. If exemptions are granted, they must be based on the law—not religion or political convenience.
The rule of law demands equal treatment, not selective enforcement.
Will you publicly clarify whether the same standards are applied to all religious organisations?
#RuleOfLaw #EqualityBeforeLaw #Karnataka
— 🚩Mohan Gowda🇮🇳 (@Mohan_HJS) October 20, 2026
At A Glance
The RSS has applied to the Bengaluru police for permission to hold Vijayadashami processions on October 25 in Laggere and Kamalanagar.
Karnataka Home Minister Priyank Kharge stated that prior permission from authorities is mandatory for all RSS route marches on public roads.
According to the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha Annual Report for 2025–26, the RSS conducted 562 route marches across Karnataka involving 221963 participants.
A Bengaluru sessions court on October 7 stayed further proceedings in a criminal defamation case against Kharge and Mohammed Haris Nalapad.
Kharge has repeatedly maintained that the RSS must follow the same rules as other organisations when conducting route marches and public gatherings. In July, he said that as long as he remained a minister, prior permission for RSS route marches would be mandatory. He has also distinguished between an event held on private premises and a procession on public roads, for which police approval and law-and-order assessments are required.
This faceoff is not new. In October 2025, the RSS sought to conduct a route march in Chittapur, Kharge’s constituency. The government denied permission amid concerns over possible clashes and public ordertriggering accusations from the BJP that the Congress was targeting the Sangh. The controversy subsequently led to a government order requiring organisations to obtain prior permission to use public premises and property for gatherings. In August 2026, the Karnataka Cabinet cleared a Bill to provide a legislative framework for regulating the use of government premises and public property.
Kharge has also questioned the RSS’s legal statusfunding and transparency, asking the organisation to provide details of its registration, office-bearers, finances and assets. The RSS and the BJP have pushed back against his demands, portraying them as politically motivated attempts to restrict the organisation’s activities.
The scale of the RSS’s own reported mobilisation has also figured in the debate. Its Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha Annual Report for 2025–26 states that the organisation conducted 562 route marches across Karnataka involving 2,21,963 uniformed participants. Such numbers raise practical questions about police deployment, traffic diversions, security and other logistical arrangements when large processions are planned.
The political confrontation has acquired a legal dimension as well. On October 7, a Bengaluru sessions court stayed further proceedings in a criminal defamation case filed by RSS member Tejas A against Kharge and Mohammed Haris Nalapad, son of Congress MLA N.A. Haris. The court’s order puts the proceedings on hold while it examines whether the complainant has the legal standing to initiate the case.
The complaint alleged that Kharge, Nalapad and then Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao had made false, baseless and derogatory remarks about the RSS, its members and their activities through media platforms in October 2025. The magistrate court had taken cognisance of the criminal defamation complaint on June 27 and proceeded against Kharge and Nalapad, while dropping the proceedings against Gundu Rao.
Kharge and Nalapad challenged the magistrate’s order. After approaching the Karnataka High Court, they were directed on October 1 to seek relief before the sessions court.
Justice Shivaprasad Kb stayed further proceedings before the magistrate court and issued notice to Tejas.
Kharge and Nalapad’s counsel argued that Tejas had given inconsistent accounts of his association with the RSS and had not produced adequate material to establish his membership. They also argued that a defamation complaint must be filed by an identifiable person who has suffered a specific legal injury, and not by just anyone claiming to represent an organisation which in this case was the RSS. This matter has been now listed for October 30.
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Ask News18The RSS has submitted applications to the Bengaluru police seeking permission to hold Vijayadashami processions and route marches in Laggere and Kamalanagar on October 25.
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Rohini Swamy, Associate Editor at News18, has been a journalist for nearly two decades in the television and digital space. She covers south India for News18’s digital platform. She has previously wor…Read More
October 20, 2026, 7:14 PM IST
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