Lighthouse journalism came across a post being widely shared on social media platforms. The post claimed that RSS, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh has announced in a press conference that it extends support to Congress and INDI Alliance for upcoming elections. During the investigation, we found this claim to be false.
Claim:
X user @preetiagr123 shared the viral claim.
Other users too are sharing the viral claim too.
Investigation:
We started our investigation by watching the video attached along with the claim.
The video posted on Awaaz India TV was titled: Nagpur: RSS ने दिया कांग्रेस को समर्थन,देशभर में मचा बवाल PC of RSS Chief Janardan Moon, Abdul Pasha
However, the RSS chief is not Janardan Moon, but Dr Mohan Bhagwat.
The description of the video said: जो लोग अचंभित हो रहे है की “RSS” ने INDIA गठबंधन को कैसे समर्थन दे दिया, उनके लिए बता दे कि देश में दो RSS हैं, एक Online REGISTERED है जिसने कांग्रेस को समर्थन दिया हैं, और दूसरा UNREGISTERED जिसके सरसंघचालक मोहन भागवत है, कृपया ध्यान रखें भ्रमित न हो जाए। Nagpur ፤ RSS given unconditional support to INDIA Alliance
It was hence clear that the RSS in question here is not the one headed by Dr Mohan Bhagwat.
We then searched about the RSS, headed by Janardan Moon. We found a few news stories about this particular RSS.
This particular RSS was founded by former Nagpur corporator Janardan Moon.
Janardan Moon’s petition to register, ‘Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) of his own was rejected in 2017. Karuna Patre, the then deputy registrar of societies in the office of charity commissioner had suggested government patronage and would create confusion in the minds of people.
In one of the news reports senior RSS leader and the then Akhil Bharatiya Prachar Pramukh Manmohan Vaidya had said, “Such a gimmick isn’t worthy of any importance. Let the charity commissioner decide on the issue.”
In the next step of investigation we reached out to Akhil Bharatiya Sah Prachar Pramukh of RSS, Narender Kumar. He said, “This is fake news. No such press conference has been organized by RSS. This is just an attempt to confuse people.”
Conclusion: RSS did not support the Congress party for upcoming elections. The RSS which conducted a press conference regarding the same is a different organisation headed by former Nagpur corporator, Janardan Moon. Viral claims are misleading.
