Bengaluru: Karnataka minister Priyank Kharge has asked the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh to obtain formal permission for the marches it plans on October 25, pointing to police concerns over simultaneous processions, security planning and the use of public resources.
The RSS has announced marches in the state on October 25, and the government's position is that any large procession needs clearances. Kharge's demand turns a routine policing question into a political one: the state and the Sangh have been at odds over processions and public order for years.
The route reported for one of the marches would pass through Kempegowda Layout and Kasturi Layout before returning to the starting point. Police, officials say, must weigh how multiple processions on the same day affect traffic, security deployment and the availability of officers.
Kharge, a Congress leader and son of AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge, framed the demand around procedure rather than confrontation — that organisers should follow the same rules as everyone else.
The state has seen its share of friction over public processions and protest sites in recent months. A Bengaluru police restriction confining protests to Freedom Park has drawn criticism from civil society, with questions raised about who introduced the curbs and whether the Congress government can change them.
No immediate response from the RSS was available. The standoff now sits with the district administration, which will decide on permission — and with it, how a national organisation's show of strength is policed in a Congress-ruled state.
Karnataka holds its assembly election in 2027, and the RSS marches are being read against that backdrop. Police permission is a routine administrative question, but friction between the state government and the Sangh over processions has surfaced again. The district administration will have to weigh route, timing and security while deciding.