Madhya Pradesh minister Kailash Vijayvargiya's alleged claim that officials have been aligning themselves with the RSS after the BJP assumed power has sparked controversy, with the Congress terming it a threat to the neutrality of the bureaucracy.
Addressing a memorial event for a former RSS pracharak on Friday, Vijayvargiya claimed that since the BJP came to power, there has been a "race" among officials to show their affiliation to the RSS, adding that the organisation has become "too crowded" with a shortage of "good people."
The videos of the minister’s comments are now circulating on social media, drawing fire from the Opposition.
In one such clip, Vijayvargiya is heard recounting his interactions with an official.
"When we were in the government, some officer came and said, 'Sir, I used to go to the shakha.' Hey, you go now... You never told me before our government came to power," he said.
The senior BJP leader claimed that every officer has a desire to show off his affiliation with the Sangh.
"Every officer and employee thinks this...After the government came to power, everyone became part of the RSS. Every officer became part of the RSS," he is heard saying in one of the videos.
He narrated that one such officer told him that his father was the president of an RSS shakha, even though there is no such position in the organisation.
Vijayvargiya also lamented that the organisation lacked good people.
Referring to the late Sangh pracharak Shaligram Tomar and some other RSS officials from Madhya Pradesh, he said, "Such people are rare. The organisation is growing, and its ideology is also growing, so to speak. But if there are no good people, then we should reflect and ponder over the importance of that ideology."
Sharing a video of the minister's statement on X, Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee President Jitu Patwari said that Vijayvargiya's public statement raises a serious Constitutional question.
"If this type of identification has increased in the administrative system, then it is not just a political comment, but a deep and serious issue related to the fairness, neutrality, and constitutional dignity of the Indian administrative system!" he wrote in his post.
Patwari stated that the Constitution of India requires every government official to be loyal to it and not to any political or ideological organisation.
He urged the President of India and the Madhya Pradesh governor to take cognisance of the matter and demanded a constitutional review.
(With inputs from PTI)
