India’s NITI Aayog has opted not to release details regarding the functioning of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) as a non-governmental organization (NGO).
Responding to a Right to Information (RTI) request for the RSS’s registration certificate as an NGO, NITI Aayog’s Voluntary Action Cell stated that the information was “personal” and “third-party information,” citing Section 8(J) of the RTI Act, 2005 as grounds for refusal.
This application was initiated by P.P. Kapoor, an RTI activist based in Panipat, following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s assertion during his 79th Independence Day address on August 15 this year, where he referred to the RSS as an NGO.
In his August 17 RTI application, Kapoor also sought certified copies of the RSS’s “Aims and Objectives” from its registration records, along with annual audit reports, balance sheets, and income-expenditure statements submitted to the Registrar General of Firms and Societies. However, Deepak Nailwal, the Central Public Information Officer for the Voluntary Action Cell, responded that this requested information was “not available.”
When questioned about the current office-bearers of the RSS, the CPIO directed Kapoor to the Darpan portal, stating the information was publicly accessible there.
Kapoor has voiced strong concerns, alleging a deliberate attempt to withhold information about the RSS. “Prime Minister Modi declared the RSS a non-government organization in his Independence Day speech and also praised RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on his 75th birthday in various newspaper articles,” Kapoor stated in a press release. “Yet, this RTI response clearly indicates that the RSS operates as an unregistered or ‘illegal’ organization, lacking proper documentation.”