What did Sardar Patel actually think of RSS?

The Sangh Parivar, which includes the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, BJP and several of its associates, is busy appropriating Sardar Patel and his legacy. It does seem like they have forgotten that the original ‘Iron Man’ was critical of RSS and had banned it after the Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination.

In a government communique issued on February 4, 1948, the Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel-led government said it was banning the RSS “to root out the forces of hate and violence that are at work in our country and imperil the freedom of the Nation and darken her fair name”. Additionally the RSS was declared an unlawful organisation throughout India.

The communique stated that, “Undesirable and even dangerous activities have been carried on by members of the Sangh. It has been found that in several parts of the country individual members of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh have indulged in acts of violence involving arson, robbery, dacoity, and murder and have collected illicit arms and ammunition”.

Posters released by Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust (SAHMAT) also highlights what Sardar Vallabhai Patel thought of RSS.