NEW DELHI: The Congress has called for a probe into the RSS following claims by Kerala IT professional Anandu Aji—who died by suicide—that he was sexually abused as a child at RSS camps.
Addressing a press conference at the AICC headquarters, Chairman of the Media and Publicity Department Pawan Khera said that the RSS needs to be exposed, and what is happening behind the veil of its so-called value system and nationalism must be revealed to the whole nation.
Referring to the suicide note posted on a social media platform, the Congress leader said that it was a foolproof and conclusive confirmation of what was already known in public domain but was not openly discussed.
“There is dirt and sleaze behind the veil of the RSS and that veil needs to be taken off to show the true face of an organisation that claims to be the guardian of religion and nationalism,” he remarked, emphasising that it was important to expose the dark side of the organisation that works with utmost secrecy.
Khera expressed dismay at the silence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the RSS leadership over such serious revelations.
He pointed out that the Prime Minister had said from the ramparts of the Red Fort that his government owed everything to the RSS. “Now is the time for the PM to speak”, he remarked.
The senior Congress leader also said it was shocking that the Kerala Police did not mention the RSS in the FIR, despite Anandu having clearly named the organisation. “What is the fear of the RSS that it has not been named in the FIR?” he asked.
Referring to the complete command and control the RSS exercises over everything in the BJP government at the Centre, Khera remarked, “This is the government of the RSS, by the RSS and for the RSS”.
He also questioned the celebrations marking the RSS’s hundred years of foundation, including the issuance of a postal stamp and a coin, in light of the grave and serious allegations of sexual exploitation of young kids who unsuspectingly join the RSS shakhas and its training camps.
Earlier, in an X post, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also demanded investigation into the suicide. “The RSS must allow these allegations to be investigated fully. In his suicide message Anandu Aji alleged that he was abused again and again by multiple members of the RSS.”
Gandhi stated that the allegations, if true, points to a horrifying reality as lakhs of children and teenagers across India attend such camps.
"The leadership of the RSS must take immediate action, they must come clean. Sexual abuse of boys is a scourge as widespread as that of girls. The code of silence around these unspeakably heinous crimes has to be broken,” she wrote.
