Karnataka minister and son of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Priyank Kharge on Tuesday said the Congress would ban the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) if it comes to power at the Centre, besides mentioning that the grand old party had banned the organisation twice and regretting that those bans were lifted.

Kharge also accused the organisation of being allergic to equality and economic parity since its inception.

His statement came in response to RSS general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale’s recent suggestion that the words “socialist” and “secular” should be removed from the Preamble of the Indian Constitution.

“We have opposed the ideology of the RSS in the past also and had banned them two-three times. Lifting the ban was our (Congress’) mistake. They fell at our feet, saying they won’t indulge in anti-national activities. There are documents for this,” he told India Today.

Kharge referred to historical precedents to defend his stance: "It is not the first time they have been banned right? Didn't Sardar Patel ban them? Then they went and fell at his feet. They pleaded no, no, we will follow the law of the land. After that, Indira Gandhiji banned it again. They went and said no, we will cooperate. We will abide by the laws of the land. There cannot be one law of the land for the rest of the country and for one generation like this...."

Alleging that the RSS wants to "alter" the Indian Constitution, Kharge said that these are the same people who "staged a protest when the Constituent Assembly debates were going on and burned the constitution."

"They want to change the words of the Constitution. They want to change the constitution. This is the narrative they want to bring in.... RSS has never been for the constitution. They burned the constitution and said that we want the Manusmriti as our constitution. Didn't they say that? Please ask them to read their magazine, the Organiser's archives, what they have written on the 26th of January 1950....The answer lies there itself," he added.

On June 27, while addressing an event on the Emergency, Hosabale said that "the preamble of the Constitution Baba Saheb Ambedkar made never had these words."

"During the Emergency, when fundamental rights were suspended, Parliament did not work, and judiciary became lame, then these words were added," he claimed. The RSS leader said discussions were held on this issue later but no effort was made to remove them from the Preamble, PTI reported.

"So whether they should remain in the Preamble should be considered," he added.

"Hosabale doesn’t want the people from poor classes to come up. He wants to continue what he’s (they’ve) been practising for thousands of years. That’s why he doesn’t like socialism, secularism, liberty, equality and fraternity. RSS is always against the poor people, the scheduled castes, the downtrodden and other communities,” Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge told reporters on June 27.

“If they are going to touch any word in the Constitution, we will fight tooth and nail,” Kharge asserted.