Ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha Elections, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Online, established in 2017, announced its support to the INDI Alliance. ‘RSS Online’ Chief Janardan Moon and associate Abdul Pasha held a press conference on 25th March and declared that it was necessary to defeat the BJP in the upcoming elections so they would want to extend their support to the Congress and the INDI Alliance.
“The BJP has been looking after the country for the past ten years but has been disrespecting the Indian constitution. All its decisions in some way have disrespected the Constitution. This is not how a country is run. They deliberately target the opposition party leaders and call them corrupt. They make use of the central agencies to arrest the opposition leaders. Are only opposition leaders corrupt? No BJP personnel is corrupt?” Janardan Moon pondered.
He also urged the voters to vote for INDI Alliance candidates if they wish to save the Indian Constitution. He also said that the RSS online organisation would extend support to the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance in the state of Maharastra. He called the BJP leaders corrupt and said that the country needs to be saved from the party.
Meanwhile, Abdul Gafur, the Dy Chief of RSS Online claimed that RSS Online was the only RSS in the country and that no other RSS held equal importance to that of their organisation. “Ours is the only authentic RSS. No other RSS is important. If you have to argue on this, get the registration papers,” Gafur could be heard saying before he extended his unwavering support to the INDI Alliance.
The press conference is said to have happened in the Nagpur city of the Maharashtra state. However, the said event is being confused to have been organised by the original RSS, a Hindu organisation supporting the BJP-led government.
The Awaz TV India YouTube channel published the conference live on its channel and claimed that RSS had extended its support to the Congress party resulting in massive chaos in the political scenario in the country. However, the description mentions that the press meeting was organised by RSS Online and not by the original RSS whose Sarsanghchalak is Dr Mohan Bhagwat.
The traditional and original RSS has always supported the development caused in the country due to the efforts taken by the BJP-led central government. It has always hailed PM Modi and his government for working in favour of national development.
Notably, RSS and RSS Online are two different organisations, and one of them which is the new one ie RSS Online is led by Janardan Moon. In its X introduction, Moon has called himself Chief of RSS. However, he fails to mention that he is the chief of RSS Online which is a new organisation, a separate entity from the Sangh or the original RSS..
तीसरी बात, जनार्दन मून का RSS से इसलिए कोई लेना-देना नहीं है क्योंकि RSS की कार्यप्रणाली में "संस्थापक अध्यक्ष" शब्द का उपयोग नहीं होता है। pic.twitter.com/PramtZT60Y
— The Pamphlet (@Pamphlet_in) March 26, 2024
Not only the ideologies but many slight differences, like the organisation logo, their hierarchical designations, etc clarify that the members of the new RSS or the RSS online have nothing to do with the original, old, traditional Hindu organisation RSS.
OpIndia spoke to Rakesh Pandey, the media head of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), who rubbished the claims of the old organisation being unregistered. “RSS is a 90+ years old organisation and is working for the betterment and development of the country. How can any organisation that has been working for these many years be unauthentic? RSS is the original organisation working since the year 1925 and the claims that are being made against the authenticity of the original RSS are false,” he said.
RSS के नाम से कुछ लोग फर्जी संगठन बनाकर खुद को और अपने वामपंथी सहयोगियों को धोखा दे सकते है समाज को नहीं।
— Rakesh Pandey (@iRakeshPanday) March 26, 2024
संघ 1925 से देश और फिर दुनिया भर में कार्य कर रहा है। इनका दावा खोखला और राजनीतिक षड्यंत्र से प्रेरित है, जनार्दन मून और उसके गिरोह राष्ट्र विरोधी और मोदी विरोधियो के इशारे… pic.twitter.com/TicBRuN4Ik
As per the exclusive information furthered by the Pamphlet, Moon had in the year 2017 demanded police protection from Nagpur Police claiming that the original RSS workers were threatening him after he attempted to register his new RSS. Meanwhile, Dr Rajendra Gundalwar of the original RSS then confirmed that he had registered the RSS as an NGO, but in Chandrapur and not Nagpur district of Maharashtra.
Dr. Gundalwar then also asked Moon to stop misusing the name of RSS as it is a prestigious Hindu organisation working selflessly for the betterment of the country. “RSS is a very prestigious organisation which works selflessly without taking any kind of donation from anyone and lakhs of volunteers all over the world are working for the same RSS,” he was quoted as saying in a Pamphlet.
गुंडलवार ने RSS द्वारा पंजीकृत आरएसएस का कानूनी विवरण देने के बाद (MH-08/D0018394, कोड 94910 धार्मिक संगठन के रूप में पंजीकृत) जनार्दन मून को अपने एनजीओ के आरएसएस के रूप में पंजीकरण के लिए आवेदन करने के लिए फटकार भी लगाई थी। उन्होंने तब भी स्पष्ट किया था कि जनार्दन मून के "ऐसा…
— The Pamphlet (@Pamphlet_in) March 26, 2024
Gundalwar also chastised Janardan Moon for applying to register his NGO as RSS (registered as a religious organization MH-08/D0018394, code 94910) after providing the legal description of RSS. He further stated that Janardan Moon’s “intentions behind doing this are dubious, and he wants to create confusion by doing this, which may incite religious riots in the future.”
Janardhan Moon then played the victim card, claiming that Gundalwar was causing a threat to his life.
Notably these claims have been made by the Pamphlet and no official source could confirm the same during the time of writing this report. The report will be updated once the confirmations are obtained.
Further, the Court in the year 2019 dismissed the plea filed by Moon, who had staked a claim on the name ‘Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’ or RSS. He had applied to register an NGO of the name. The HC noted that there is already a society that exists by the same name. Moon had contented that the RSS was not registered with the charity commissioner and had requested allotment of the name to his society.
Later, the SC also rejected the petition filed regarding the formation and registration of a new organisation in the name of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. “Does the petitioner want to spread confusion in the society by forming another organisation in the name of Sangh?” Justice Chandrachud was quoted as saying by the Pamphlet. Rejecting the petition, the court said that such a new organisation cannot be registered in the name of an already existing organization.
