Congratulating the RSS on completing 100 years of existence, the minister wrote to RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat requesting legal clarification on its organisational status.

Posting his letter to Bhagwat on social media platform 'X', Priyank said that an organisation that claims to have over 60,000 shakhas and crores of swayamsevaks across India and abroad must also uphold transparency, accountability and constitutional compliance.

Calling upon the RSS to use the occasion of its centenary not merely for celebration, but for constitutional introspection, Priyank said, "The best tribute it can pay to India in its 100th year is to register itself, disclose its activities and finances, pay all applicable taxes, and function as a transparent and accountable organisation within the framework of Indian law." The minister, who is the son of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, pointed out that according to the 2025–26 Karnataka report of the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha, the RSS's highest decision-making body, the organisation has 4,127 daily shakhas, 1,389 weekly milans and 60 monthly mandalis in the state.

He said the report also noted that the RSS had organised 2,194 Samajotsavas with 19.61 lakh participants and conducted 562 route marches involving 2.21 lakh uniformed participants across Karnataka.

The minister said that the RSS, with such an extensive organisational presence, especially when it involves regular public mobilisation, uniformed route marches and large-scale social outreach, cannot be treated as a private or informal arrangement.

The activities of the RSS raise legitimate questions about legal status, accountability, financial transparency, public order, permissions, sources of funding and compliance with the Constitution and laws of India, he underlined.

"We request the RSS to depute its authorised office bearers to explain the legal grounds on which an organisation of such magnitude continues to function with anonymity and without being formally registered as a legal entity or as a 'body of individuals' under the applicable laws," the letter, dated June 13, which was shared with the media on Monday, stated.

He asked why the RSS should remain exempt if citizens, labour organisations, NGOs, trusts, temples and companies are expected to register, disclose and comply with the law.

"In this context, it is only fair and necessary that the RSS also comes forward and places the following information in the public domain: its legal status and organisational structure, details of its office bearers and authorised representatives, sources of donations, contributions and income, and details of expenditure and assets," the letter said.

He asked the RSS chief to share whether applicable taxes are being paid in accordance with law, the legal basis on which its activities are conducted without formal registration, and the constitutional and statutory framework under which it claims the right to operate at such a scale without public accountability.

He sought details of permissions, authorisations and compliance mechanisms for public events, route marches, mass gatherings and other organised activities.

Priyank claimed that an organisation that regularly invokes nationalism, discipline and duty must also demonstrate these values through transparency, compliance and respect for the Constitution of India.

According to him, the RSS cannot ask ordinary Indians to follow rules while exempting itself from the same standards.

He appealed to Bhagwat for a formal response to his letter.

senior J&K National Conference leader and MP Aga Ruhullah has claimed that, during the last winter session of Parliament, a Muslim MP shouted at Pathan and asked him to withdraw from a protest against the SIR issue in the House. TMC MP Mahua Moitra later claimed the person was “Asaduddin Owaisi”.

“During the last winter session of Parliament, the entire Opposition was protesting against SIR and other issues in the House. As always, the @AITCofficial MPs were in the well of the House, taking the lead and protesting fearlessly,” Ruhullah posted on X.

“I was there and I heard a prominent Muslim MP (not from TMC) shouting at Yusuf Pathan and telling him to withdraw from the protest,” he said.

According to Ruhullah, Yusuf subsequently withdrew and returned to his seat. “I noticed a change in Yusuf’s expression; he was almost shivering.”

“After that MP left, I went to Yusuf and asked him what had happened and why he looked scared. Yusuf told me that the person had told him not to protest against the BJP, saying, ‘What is wrong with you? Why are you protesting against the BJP? Khud ko dushman kyon bana rahe ho? They will bulldoze your house in Gujarat,’” Ruhullah said.

He added, “In the meantime, TMC leader @MahuaMoitra came and asked me what had happened. I told her that Yusuf was frightened because that individual had warned him that the BJP would bulldoze his house in Gujarat. Mahua became furious and told Yusuf not to listen to that person, saying, ‘We are behind you, we are one, and no one will dare touch you or your family.’”

“One feels sorry for @MahuaMoitra and @AITCofficial. You had his back, but he and others like him stabbed you in the back,” Ruhullah added.

Ruhullah, however, is himself not believed to be on cordial terms with his party leadership and has reportedly been sidelined by the National Conference over his stand on Article 370. He is allegedly no longer being invited to party meetings.

Responding to Ruhullah’s revelation, TMC firebrand MP Mahua Moitra wrote on X: “Yes sir, it was @asadowaisi who was warning @iamyusufpathan, remember? What a pity I fought for a gaddar with no courage and no spine. He was better off doing commentary! What a scared phattu…”

His remarks came after the case of 18-year-old Akanksha Chaturvedi from Madhya Pradesh's Mauganj district drew national attention. Akanksha allegedly died by suicide in Nagpur after reportedly falling into depression amid reports of irregularities and an alleged paper leak linked to the NEET-UG examination.

In a post on X, Gandhi highlighted the struggles of Akanksha's family and the sacrifices made to support her dream of becoming a doctor.

Also Read - Pradhan on NEET Crisis: Re-Exam Ordered, CBI Probe On, IAF Role Justified

"Akanksha aspired to become a doctor and serve her country and society. Akanksha's father is a farmer. To support his daughter's dream of becoming a doctor, he took out a loan of Rs 3 lakh against his Kisan Credit Card. He even took up a job as a cook in Nagpur himself, so that his daughter could attend coaching classes there," Gandhi said.

 

 

https://twitter.com/RahulGandhi/status/2062393393905643854

The Congress leader said Akanksha's death reflected the deep crisis in India's education system and the burden being borne by students and their families.

What began as a dream of lifting a family out of poverty through education ended in tragedy. Akanksha, who had been preparing for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) at a coaching institute in Nagpur, was found hanging in her room on May 20.

Days later, a handwritten note recovered by the family revealed the emotional distress she had been experiencing.

"Mom and Dad, you had faith that your daughter would study hard and become a doctor, but I no longer have the courage to take the NEET exam again," Akanksha wrote.

"I was scoring good marks in my first attempt, but now there is no guarantee that I will perform well again. I am sorry, Mom and Dad. I have ruined everything."

Akanksha belonged to Maganiya village in Mauganj district. Her father, Krishna Kumar Chaubey, a small farmer, had reportedly taken significant financial risks to support her education. Family members said he borrowed nearly Rs 3 lakh through a Kisan Credit Card loan and also sought financial assistance from relatives. In addition to farming, he worked as a cook in Nagpur to meet household expenses and coaching fees.

According to her uncle, Jagdish Prasad Chaturvedi, Akanksha had returned home after the examination feeling optimistic about her performance.

"She was extremely happy after the exam and told us she expected to score more than 650 marks," he said.

"But when reports about the paper leak started appearing, she went into deep shock. She stopped eating, stopped talking much and remained disturbed. We never imagined things would end this way."

Family members claim the controversy surrounding the examination deeply affected the young aspirant, who feared that her years of hard work would lose value amid allegations of irregularities.

Speaking with Aaj Tak, Deepak said that Rahul Gandhi had promised to visit Kotdwar and sign up for membership at his gym. “He is now fulfilling that promise and take the membership tomorrow,” Deepak said. There has been no official confirmation on Rahul Gandhi joining Mohammad Deepak's gym.

The 42-year-old operator of 'Hulk' gym in Kotdwar was also planning to vacate his gym, sell the equipment and move out of the city due to financial crunch he has faced since he spoke against the harassment of the Muslim man.

A few days ago, he had said that his landlord has given him an ultimatum over four months of unpaid rent. He said he did not know if “external entities pressured the landlord” to force his eviction.

Speaking with PTI, Deepak shared his plan of moving out of the city and taking up a job to sustain his family. He said, “My landlord has given an ultimatum since I could not pay the rent for the last four months. I now think of selling the equipment and moving out of the city to take up a job.”

When Deepak Kumar confronted Bajrang Dal activists

On January 26, Deepak Kumar came into limelight when he confronted Bajrang Dal activists who were demanding that a 70-year-old shop owner, Vakil Ahmed, change the name of his shop, 'Baba' clothing store, on Patel Marg.

When he was asked his name, Deepak had identified as ‘Mohammad Deepak’.

A few days later, a huge crowd gathered outside the Muslim man's shop and Deepak's gym, blocked road and raised slogans.

Deepak said that his gym currently has 60 to 65 members and that this turnout fails to cover operational expenses. "The monthly rent for the premises stands at ₹40,000," he said.

He said that any ramp-up in the membership is unlikely, considering the hot weather and ongoing controversies.

Deepak alleged that workers from the BJP and Bajrang Dal target his clients.

"These activists visit the homes of gym members whose parents affiliate with the BJP to discourage them from coming to the gym," he said.

"This targeted campaign has severely destabilised my business," he added.

Renowned Indian economist Surjit Bhalla recently expressed concern about the country's investment climate. He stated that not only foreign investors but also domestic investors are now hesitant to invest in their own country. India often touts itself as the world's largest investment destination, but renowned economist Surjit Bhalla says India must accept a harsh reality.

Why is there a decline in foreign investment?

Surjit Bhalla, former IMF executive director for India, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Sri Lanka, said in an article in 'The Indian Express' that foreign direct investment (FDI) has been declining for many years and this is not due to global uncertainties.

According to him, companies and investors around the world invest based on profitability. They have nothing to do with the government's appeals. He alleged that the rules for foreign investors in India have been made so complex as to punish them for investing in India through higher taxes and stricter regulations.

Learn from India and Indonesia

According to him, the root of this problem is a 2015 investment treaty. India has canceled or amended bilateral treaties with several countries since 2015. By 2024-25, the treaties had completely expired. Investors found the new agreements lacking legal protections, and they too have backed off from investing. He said India should learn the right lessons from Indonesia.

He mentioned Indonesia because Indonesia has also scrapped old and flawed agreements with many countries, but has instead enacted new regulations that are more investor-friendly, secure, and strengthen the rule of law. As a result, Indonesia's foreign investment has increased from $14 billion to $20 billion over the past decade.

India has made the rules strict and complicated.

India enacted its new Model BIT in 2015-16, which further complicated exit and dispute resolution processes for foreign investors. Under India's new rules, any foreign investor involved in a dispute must spend years navigating local courts before being able to seek international arbitration. He said India, like Indonesia, should address investors' concerns about legal protections rather than concealing its "loopholes" system.

Differences continued to simmer between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and the Sunetra Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), with several rebel candidates in the fray and voices of discontent, especially from the Shinde-led Shiv Sena. Seat-sharing talks were also a tedious process requiring intervention from the BJP leadership in Delhi.

On Wednesday, leaders from all three parties put up a united front with Maharashtra BJP president Ravindra Chavan, Maharashtra NCP chief Sunil Tatkare and former Shiv Sena MP Rahul Shewale addressing a joint press conference to declare the 17 official candidates of the Mahayuti.

Chavan said, “The leaders of the three parties have been in talks with the rebel candidates and we are confident that by Thursday, the last date for withdrawing nominations, they will have taken their candidatures back.”

The numbers are stacked in favour of the Mahayuti with 16 seats to be elected from local bodies and a bypoll for the Nagpur local authorities constituency. But, the process has once again shown the disconnect within the parties on the ground.

The BJP is contesting 11 of the 17 seats, the Shiv Sena is contesting four, while the NCP is contesting two.

“Eknath Shinde is more ambitious than Uddhav Thackeray was as a coalition partner, which is a cause of concern for the BJP. Secondly, the BJP’s own ambitions have increased drastically and the situation has changed a lot since 2022 when the Shiv Sena split. The BJP is trying to occupy whatever space it can get, and at some places it is at the cost of Shinde’s Shiv Sena,” Sanjay Patil, a researcher at Mumbai University, told ThePrint.

He added that the BJP’s immediate ambition is to boost its numbers in the legislative council and the Rajya Sabha. 

Fissures at the ground level

On Monday, Shiv Sena MLA Abdul Sattar told reporters that the BJP is trying to finish the Shiv Sena. “It has already cut off our arms and legs, and is now trying to chop off our heads…Kamakhya Devi in Guwahati remembers our sacrifices, but the BJP has forgotten them,” Sattar said, referring to the June 2022 visit of all Shiv Sena MLAs who had split from the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena to Guwahati. 

Sattar also suggested that both Shiv Senas—the one under Shinde and Thackeray—should merge, something that MLC Ambadas Danve from the Thackeray-led Shiv Sena had also spoken about.

Sattar’s son, Sameer Sattar, was one of the rebel candidates within Mahayuti from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar-Jalna where the BJP has fielded Suhas Shirsat as the Mahayuti’s official candidate. Shinde held a late night meeting with all his party MLAs in the Marathwada region on Tuesday post which Sattar said he will urge his son to take his candidature back. However, he continued his onslaught against the BJP in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar.

Sattar did not respond to ThePrint’s calls, but speaking with Marathi television channel ABP Majha on Wednesday, the MLA said, “We have followed the alliance dharma, but today’s situation has forced us to talk about the truth on the ground. Three years later we have the Lok Sabha election, then there are legislative assembly polls, the leadership needs to address these issues. I am not saying we haven’t made any mistakes, but both sides need to learn to follow the alliance dharma.”

Backing Sattar, Sanjay Gaikwad, another Shiv Sena MLA from Buldhana, told reporters, “Abdul Sattar’s grievance is real. We have seen how two Shiv Sena cabinet ministers were attacked, and there was not even an inquiry into the incident.”

During the Satara Zilla Parishad elections for which the Shinde-led Shiv Sena and the Sunetra Pawar-led NCP had joined hands, Shiv Sena minister Shambhuraj Desai and NCP Minister Makrand Patil had alleged that the local police had manhandled and dragged them. Mahayuti allies had slammed the BJP for alleged state-sponsored manipulation with CM Devendra Fadnavis holding the home portfolio.

Gaikwad further said, “Even in my constituency, senior BJP leaders don’t let any of my calling attention motions be discussed in the legislature.”

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Shiv Sena Minister Uday Samant said the Mahayuti’s “Samanvay samiti,” which he is a part of, will discuss these issues.

“While working in an alliance there are some pluses and minuses, but when we work in the Shiv Sena, we accept the order of our party chief. There is a Samanvay samiti within the Mahayuti. We meet every Tuesday, we will discuss these problems and take it up.”

He clarified that there is no reason for his party to knock on the doors of Matoshree, the Thackeray residence, amid talks of a reunion between the two parties. 

Scramble to contain rebellion

The day started with a long list of Mahayuti rebels in the fray, with some of these being children of party leaders wanting to establish political careers.  

Mahayuti leaders scrambled to douse the rebellion wherever possible. Shinde’s late night meeting resulted in Sattar agreeing to take his son Sameer’s nomination back. 

Further, Shinde issued directions to Mahendra Dalvi to get his daughter, Juilee Dalvi, to withdraw from the Raigad-Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg constituency. 

While Juilee or Mahendra Dalvi was himself not present to withdraw the nomination, Shiv Sena MLA Bharat Gogawale’s son Vikas Gogawale said, “We have just withdrawn Juilee Dalvi’s candidature. We are all karyakartas who follow our leader’s directions. Shinde Saheb had called. He also told Dalvi saheb.”

Tatkare, whose son Aniket Tatkare is the official candidate in the constituency, said that the decision to support Aniket from NCP was taken collectively by Mahayuti and “very amicably.”

“The process of taking nomination back (by rebels) has already started. And we are sure that tomorrow at 3 pm when the time for withdrawals is done, Mahayuti will be standing unitedly behind 17 candidates,” Tatkare said at Wednesday’s joint Mahayuti press conference.

In Nashik, BJP’s Ganesh Gite, as well as his brother Gokul Gite, has filed his nomination despite the Shiv Sena’s Narendra Darade being the Mahayuti’s official candidate. On Wednesday, Shiv Sena Minister Samant travelled to Nashik, but Gite had left for Mumbai. 

BJP Minister Girish Mahajan, a Nashik strongman, told reporters that he had called Gite for a meeting. 

“We will definitely find a solution. At many other places, the problem has been solved. We will find a solution here too,” Mahajan said.

The leaders are Rajkumar Thukral, a popular leader from Rudrapur and two-time MLA, who was denied a ticket in 2022 by the BJP; Bhimlal Arya, former Ghansali MLA who was suspended from the BJP for supporting Congress in 2016; Narayan Pal, a BSP MLA from Sitarganj. Others include Gaurav Goyal, former Mayor of Roorkee, Lakhan Singh Negi, who is the current District Panchayat member from Bhimtal, Anuj Gupta, former Municipal Chairman of Mussoorie, and Yashpal Rana from Roorkee.

Thukral had contested from Udham Singh Nagar’s Rudrapur in 2012 and 2017 on a BJP ticket, even securing 59.19 per cent votes polled in 2017. However, in 2022, the BJP denied him a ticket, after which he contested as an independent. He came third, getting 20 per cent of the votes polled, while the Congress polled 30.9 per cent in the seat.

Thukral shot to popularity during the statehood movement when he was jailed. In 2003, he became the Municipal Chairman of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Bhimlal Arya, who contested in the SC-reserved Ghansali seat, became a BJP MLA in 2012, but was suspended for anti-party activities. In 2016, he was disqualified by the Speaker for cross-voting in favour of the then Harish Rawat government. Though he contested on a Congress ticket in 2017 and later in 2022 as an independent, he came third in both instances.

The former BSP MLA Narayan Pal had won in 2002 and 2007, but became unsuccessful in 2012.

The leaders were inducted into the party by senior state leaders and state in-charge and MP Selja. The Congress leaders said that it is very significant that many of the leaders who joined Congress were previously associated with the BJP, and their move is an indication of discontentment with the party and leadership. Selja said that Dhami has become increasingly unpopular among the people of the state, adding that the recent cabinet rejig was an attempt to combat the public anger. When five new ministers were inducted, Congress took a dig at BJP, saying seven of the 12 ministers in the Dhami Cabinet were former Congressmen and that the BJP “needed its ideology to run its government”.

The defection could help Congress in Udham Singh Nagar, where it currently has five of the nine assembly seats. The BJP has been feeling the heat after its legislator from Gadarpur, Arvind Pandey, was accused of land grabbing, and his family faces an FIR under fraud and criminal intimidation. A recent suicide of a farmer in the region had also resulted in protests against the government and police.Meanwhile, the BJP state President and Rajya Sabha MP Mahendra Bhatt hit back, calling Congress a party of four leaders, whosE in-charge does not even consider it necessary to visit Uttarakhand. He said that those who joined Congress had already been expelled from the BJP long ago and therefore cannot be considered faces of the party.

Among those likely to switch sides are several prominent faces, including former MLAs Rajkumar Thukral, Bhimlal Arya and Narayan Pal. Their potential exit signals growing unease within the state unit and could reshape local political dynamics.

Former MLAs, Senior Leaders Among Likely Defectors

Other leaders expected to join the Congress include Lakhan Negi, who has previously contested as an Independent candidate from Bhimtal, along with Gaurav Goyal, former Mayor of Roorkee, and Anuj Gupta, former Municipal Council Chairman of Mussoorie.

The anticipated shift, if finalised, would mark a notable moment in Uttarakhand politics, highlighting internal tensions within the BJP and offering a potential boost to the Congress ahead of future electoral battles.