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RSS invites Jagdeep Dhankhar to its Vijayadashami event; Congress says the 'ecosystem is at war'
The former Vice-President, who resigned in July 2025, is on the guest list for Mohan Bhagwat's address in Nagpur on 20 October, the close of the Sangh's centenary year.
Key points
- Former Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar is among the dignitaries invited to the RSS Vijayadashami event in Nagpur.
- The 20 October function marks the end of the RSS's centenary year.
- Jairam Ramesh said the Prime Minister and Home Minister had forced Dhankhar's resignation in 2025.
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh has invited former Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar to its annual Vijayadashami function in Nagpur, and the Congress was quick to read the gesture as a sign of strain inside the Sangh Parivar.
RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat will address the gathering on 20 October. This year’s event brings the organisation’s year-long centenary celebrations to a close. Dhankhar is reported to be one of several dignitaries on the guest list. Sanjay Gupta, editor of the Jagran group, has been invited as chief guest.
Dhankhar stepped down as Vice-President and Chairman of the Rajya Sabha in July 2025, citing health reasons, and has kept a low profile since.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh did not accept that account. He said the Prime Minister and the Home Minister had forced Dhankhar’s resignation on 21 July 2025, and described the former Vice-President as “a strong critic of the Modi government’s continuing neglect of the demands of farmers”. The RSS, he said, had now invited him to its annual Vijayadashami function in Nagpur on 20 October.
“Clearly, the ecosystem is at war within itself as it unravels,” Ramesh said. The Congress has seized on the invitation to argue that all is not well between the government and the wider Sangh Parivar, at a time when the opposition is already pressing the BJP hard over the electoral roll revision and the Chief Election Commissioner.
Dhankhar has not said publicly whether he will attend.