Thrissur: RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat has rejected calls for the Sangh to register itself, asserting that the organisation is neither secretive nor operating outside public scrutiny.

Bhagwat was responding to questions after addressing a gathering as part of the RSS centenary outreach programme here on Sunday.

Responding to a question on the Karnataka Home Minister Priyank Kharge's call for the RSS to register itself, Bhagwat said the organisation had nothing to hide and conducted its activities openly.

"There are so many unregistered things going on, and we are not secretive. We work in open grounds. We call people and tell them what we do," he said.

Calling the demand "politics", Bhagwat said such attempts were nothing new for the organisation.

"This is politics and these kinds of gimmicks are being tried...we are used to it. After 10 to 15 years of the Sangh's inception, we had to face all these things. If they don't happen, we feel something is amiss," he said.

The RSS chief said the organisation, founded during the British rule, emerged through a process of public discussion and consensus.

"Hindu Dharma is not registered. Many things are not registered. Those who want funds from the government require registration. That has to be there. But the government knows the Sangh exists," he said.

Bhagwat noted that the RSS had been banned twice in the past and argued that those actions themselves showed the organisation's existence and identity were well known to authorities.

"The government banned us twice. One ban was lifted through a court order and another after a satyagraha. That means the government knew RSS existed," he said.

He further said the organisation had submitted its written constitution to the government in 1950 and that no authority had ever insisted that it register before being recognised.

"Over 100 years, nobody told us that you must register," he said.

Bhagwat alleged that such demands were aimed at hampering the work of the RSS and creating doubts in the minds of people.

"They want to, in some way, on one side, hamper the Sangh work, on the other side, create doubts in the minds of people. But that is no more possible because people know us," he said.

"Our karyakartas live in every locality. People see them every day. Our shakhas are held in open grounds. We conduct public programmes and have a wide outreach. None of this is possible if we are secretive," he added.

Karnataka Home Minister Priyank Kharge had asked the RSS to register itself, clarify its legal status and disclose its sources of funding, income, expenditure and assets.

In a letter written to the RSS chief, posted on his X handle, Kharge sought clarification on the organisation's legal status. 

(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)