'PM Modi Attempting To Appropriate Tricolour RSS Disowned': Congress on 'Har Ghar Tiranga' Campaign

The Congress criticized the "Har Ghar Tiranga" campaign, citing the historical reluctance of the RSS towards the Indian national flag.

The Congress on Saturday took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's relaunch of the "Har Ghar Tiranga" campaign, highlighting historical disagreements between the Bharatiya Janata Party's ideological kin Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Indian national flag. This comes after PM Modi asked people to make the Har Ghar Tiranga campaign a memorable mass movement by replacing their profile picture on X with the national flag.

In a post shared on X (formerly Twitter), Congress general secretary-in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh pointed out several instances from RSS's alleged history that he argues reflect the organization’s past reluctance to accept the tricolour.

The Congress leader pointed out that in 1947, MS Golwalkar, the second chief of RSS, criticised the adoption of the tricolour as the national flag in his book Bunch of Thoughts by labelling it "communal" and "a case of drifting and imitating".

"The RSS mouthpiece, Organiser, in 1947 wrote that the Tricolour 'will never be respected and owned by Hindus. The word three is in itself an evil, and a flag having three colours will certainly produce a very bad psychological effect and is injurious to a country'," he said on X.

Ramesh further noted that in 2015, the RSS said that saffron should have been the only colour on the national flag as other colours represented a communal thought. He also claimed that the RSS did not regularly hoist the Tiranga at its headquarters till 2001, before three youths forcibly hoisted the flag on its premises, "a crime for which they were booked".

"The non-biological Prime Minister is attempting to appropriate this national symbol, one that his ideological kin have long disowned, because his organization has no history and symbols that India can accept as its own," the Congress leader said.

"Especially so on a day when India and the Indian National Congress could celebrate the anniversary of the Quit India Movement, in which the RSS refused to participate," he added.

On Friday, in a post on X, PM Modi said, "As this year's Independence Day approaches, let's again make Har Ghar Tiranga a memorable mass movement. I am changing my profile picture and I urge you all to join me in celebrating our Tricolour by doing the same. And yes, do share your selfies on harghartiranga.com."