- 11 August, 2026
NEW DELHI, August 11, 2026: The All-India Feminist Alliance (ALIFA) of the National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) has called on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to take action against T.G. Mohandas over remarks allegedly advocating the use of firearms against student protesters and making derogatory comments about women.
In an open letter issued on August 9, Quit India Day, and addressed to RSS Sarsangchalak Mohan Bhagwat and Sarkaryavah Dattatreya Hosabale, ALIFA demanded “action and accountability” before Independence Day.
The alliance said it chose Quit India Day to recall the historic movement as a collective rejection of authoritarian rule and an assertion of the right to dissent. It said its demand went beyond the RSS merely distancing itself from Mohandas’s comments, seeking instead institutional accountability from an organisation with which he has been associated for decades.
Allegations over comments on student protesters
According to ALIFA, Mohandas posted a series of videos on his YouTube channel, Pathrika, between July 24 and 26. In a video dated July 26, he allegedly described how he would respond to students gathered at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi if he were in charge.
The alliance said Mohandas spoke of imposing a curfew around the protest site, ordering demonstrators to disperse and subsequently opening fire, with casualties and injuries resulting from the action.
ALIFA also alleged that Mohandas made offensive comments concerning women among the protesters, including statements relating to rape.
The alliance said the remarks were translated from Malayalam and reported by The South First and The News Minute on July 27. It claimed the videos were still publicly available when its letter was issued.
According to ALIFA, Mohandas has not denied making the remarks but has described them as satire and objected to portions of the video being edited. The alliance rejected that explanation, arguing that the length or context of a video could not justify the alleged statements.
Questions over institutional responsibility
ALIFA said Mohandas had been associated with the RSS for more than four decades and noted that the BJP’s Kerala unit had distanced itself from him and his comments.
The alliance said Mohandas had previously served as state convener of the BJP’s Intellectual Cell in Kerala and as a party television spokesperson. It also referred to his association with the Bharatiya Vichara Kendram, where he reportedly served as general secretary and later vice-president.
The organisation further cited his involvement with Ayodhya Printers and, for a period, Janmabhumi.
While acknowledging that Mohandas may not currently hold an official position in the RSS, ALIFA argued that his long association with the Sangh Parivar warranted institutional accountability.
The alliance also recalled the BJP’s action against Nupur Sharma and Naveen Kumar Jindal in 2022 following controversial remarks, arguing that the party had previously demonstrated that it could respond decisively when public statements generated serious controversy.
Women’s dignity and Kerala’s reform legacy
ALIFA invoked the RSS’s use of the term “Matru Shakti” to describe women and referred to public statements by its leadership condemning violence against women, including the rape and murder of a young doctor at R.G. Kar Hospital in Kolkata.
The alliance also recalled remarks attributed to the RSS leadership in Silchar in January 2013, made shortly after a young woman died following injuries sustained in a gang rape in Delhi.
The letter placed the controversy within Kerala’s broader history of women’s rights and social reform. It cited the Channar women’s struggle, the 1936 Temple Entry Proclamation, the appointment of Anna Chandy as a High Court judge in 1959 and the elevation of Fathima Beevi as the first woman judge of the Supreme Court in 1989.
ALIFA also highlighted Kerala’s female literacy rate of 91.98 per cent in the 2011 Census and the participation of more than four million women in Kudumbashree, describing these developments as milestones in women’s public participation.
Four demands before August 14
ALIFA has set August 14 as the deadline for action and placed four demands before the RSS and BJP.
First, it called for a public and written condemnation of Mohandas’s remarks, together with the “full and immediate severance” of any remaining platforms or courtesies extended to him by Sangh Parivar organisations and publications.
Second, it asked the RSS leadership to affirm that women, young people and citizens protesting against governments are entitled to dignity, agency and constitutional rights, irrespective of their political ideology.
Third, the alliance urged the RSS and BJP to support, rather than obstruct, legal and criminal proceedings against Mohandas. It said complaints filed by the Students’ Federation of India (SFI), All India Youth Federation (AIYF) and All India Students’ Federation (AISF) were before Kerala Police and that the Cyber Cell had registered an FIR and launched an investigation.
The alliance also referred to Supreme Court judgments in Tehseen Poonawalla v. Union of India (2018) and Amish Devgan v. Union of India (2020), as well as provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.
Its fourth demand was the removal of the disputed videos from public circulation while preserving certified copies for investigative and legal purposes.
‘Silence is complicity’
ALIFA warned that failure to act before Independence Day would itself be interpreted as an institutional response.
“Silence is Complicity,” the letter stated, arguing that the RSS had been asked whether it stood with a member of its wider “Parivar” who allegedly called for students to be shot and made comments trivialising sexual violence against women.
The alliance said it was not seeking agreement on political ideology but insisted that there were fundamental limits that should transcend political differences.
“A line exists that predates every ideology in this country,” ALIFA said, arguing that Mohandas had crossed that line through his alleged remarks.
The alliance concluded by reaffirming its commitment to dissent, questioning and peaceful resistance.
The letter was also copied to the BJP national president, the president of the BJP’s Kerala unit, the Kerala chief minister and home minister, and the chairpersons of the National Commission for Women and Kerala Women’s Commission.
By Catholic Connect Reporter
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