New Delhi: Karnataka home minister Priyank Kharge, who has urged Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat to provide details about the organisation including legal status and funding, clarified on Tuesday (June 16) that he didn’t propose banning the RSS but is seeking complete transparency in its functioning, reported Deccan Herald.“I want all organisations to function within the purview of law, and as home mstinister, I will not allow any organisation to operate without following the law,” said Kharge.Kharge added that if required, he is ready to visit RSS offices with his advocates or host their representatives with legal counsel.“If an ‘NGO’ claims it can mobilise an army faster than the armed forces of India, shouldn’t a state Government have the right to know its legal status, structure, training, funding, command chain and accountability?” said Kharge, questioning RSS chief Bhagwat’s reported claim that, unlike the army, the RSS could prepare a force and raise an army within three days to fight at the border.He described the statement as raising serious concerns of national security, public order, and constitutional accountability.The Karnataka home minister also rejected the notion that he is against the Hindu religion.Kharge said that the public is entitled to know whether the RSS meets standard legal requirements and cited the fact that the RSS chief enjoys Advanced Security Liaison protocol and other taxpayer-funded security arrangements.Kharge termed arguments that the RSS is a cultural body linked to religion and therefore doesn’t need to, as “flawed and absurd” and said that while he had no objection to the RSS conducting cultural, social, educational, or other lawful activities, it has to maintain transparency and operat within the constitutional framework.Kharge termed Bhagwat’s assertion that the RSS was under no obligation to answer questions, as a troubling display of arrogance.“In a constitutional democracy, no institution, however old or influential, enjoys that privilege,” he said.As reported by The Wire, Kharge had written to Bhagwat on June 13, urging the organisation to function within constitutionally-mandated regulations and “register, disclose and pay” applicable taxes. He argued that owing to the organisation’s nationwide scale and presence, it must be held to “the highest standards of transparency, accountability and constitutional compliance” and abide by the same norms binding on other non-governmental organisations, companies and religious institutions.Earlier on Tuesday, in a detailed post on X on Tuesday (June 16), Kharge flagged a widely circulating video of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, calling the demands for greater transparency ‘political gimmicks,’ as misleading. “I dispatched my letter and put it up on social media on June 15, while this interaction by the RSS Chief was on June 13/14,” he clarified, asking the public to not conflate the two.