An investigative report by The News Minute alleges that state-owned ONGC routed about ₹670 crore in CSR funds since 2013 to 20 organisations linked to the RSS, reigniting a political row over the Sangh’s unregistered status. Congress leaders say the findings contradict RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s claim that the organisation does not rely on government money, raising wider questions of transparency and use of public resources.
THE POLITICAL ROW over official registration of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has taken a new turn after an investigative report revealed one of its source of donations. According to The News Minute (TNM) report, the central government-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) directed around ₹668 crore in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds to 20 organizations linked with Sangh.
In June 2026, Karnataka Home Minister, Priyank Kharge sent an open letter to RSS, questioning why the Hindu nationalist organization is not officially registered in India. It garnered an unofficial reply from RSS Sarsanghchalak (chief) Mohan Bhagwat, who claimed that his organization doesn’t need to be registered as it is not funded by the government. While TNM report doesn’t establish a direct link between the RSS and the government, the alleged claim of ONGC funding going to RSS-linked organizations has reignited the debate over the official registration of Sangh.
According to The News Minute investigation, ONGC's CSR reports show that it donated ₹670.97 crore to 20 organisations linked to the RSS since 2013. Of this, nearly ₹668.01 crore was reportedly disbursed between the first quarter of 2015 and the first quarter of 2025, over a span of a decade.
TNM reported that during the same period, ONGC spent around ₹4,531 crore on CSR activities across more than 2,000 organisations and projects. The 20 identified organisations accounted for a little over 14.7 per cent of the company's total CSR spending. As per the report, the organisations were divided into three categories—those directly affiliated with the RSS, those founded or led by individuals associated with the Sangh, and organisations that have a history of closely working with it. The identification was reportedly done by matching ONGC's CSR records with the "Seeing the Sangh" database containing over 2,500 organisations linked with or affiliated to the RSS.
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The report claims that the largest recipient was Swargadew Siu-Ka-Pha Hospital in Assam's Sivasagar district, which allegedly received over ₹434 crore between 2016 and 2024. The hospital is co-managed by Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Vaidyakiya Pratishthan (BAVP), an Aurangabad-based trust which, according to the publication, is inspired by RSS ideology and also runs the Dr Hedgewar Hospital in the area.
TNM further stated that the second-largest beneficiary was Dr Aabaji Thatte Seva Aur Anusandhan Sanstha in Nagpur, which received ₹140 crore between 2017 and 2022 for establishing the National Cancer Institute. The report reveals that the trust is named after a former aide of ex-RSS chief M. S. Golwalkar, while several people associated with the trust have links with the RSS, BJP, Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad.
Other organisations named in the report include Sewa Bharati, Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samsthana (S-VYASA), Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation, Vidya Bharati institutions, Vivekananda Kendra, and Bharat Vikas Parishad, among others, which reportedly received CSR grants for hospitals, hostels, educational institutions, yoga centres, flood relief work, and cultural programmes.
TNM reports that ONGC did not respond to its queries regarding its findings.
After the TNM report, Karnataka Congress president B.K. Hariprasad has raised questions over the Mohan Bhagwat's claim that it does not receive government money. Citing the findings of The News Minute investigation, Hariprasad questioned how the RSS could continue to maintain that it doesn’t depend on the government if public sector funds were directed to organizations linked to Sangh. "If public institutions and taxpayer-backed resources are funding your affiliates, how can RSS claim to be independent of government money?" Hariprasad wrote on X.
The Congress leader also linked the alleged funding to what he described as a wider pattern of public resources being diverted towards the "Sangh ecosystem," including temple donations, disaster relief funds, COVID-19 relief, public land and development allocations. He said the issue was no longer only about whether the RSS should register itself, but also about transparency and accountability in its use of public money.
Neither the RSS nor ONGC has issued a response addressing the findings reported by TNM. The investigation has nevertheless added to the ongoing debate over the registration and transparency of Sangh.
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