Days after water tragedy, fresh row in Indore as collector, mayor visit RSS office

The state Congress unit claimed that the Indore collector now appeared to be operating from the RSS office rather than the collectorate (Image: X)

• Indore mayor and collector visited RSS office amid water crisis controversy
• Congress criticised officials for meeting RSS during crisis, alleging bias
• Mayor downplayed meeting, BJP called it a courtesy visit and denied wrongdoing

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A political controversy has erupted in Indore after collector Shivam Verma and mayor Pushyamitra Bhargava visited the local office of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) late Wednesday night, days after several deaths in the city’s Bhagirathpur area due to contaminated drinking water.

The meeting was confirmed in multiple reports and partially acknowledged by the mayor, who sought to downplay its significance. “As a swayamsevak, I often go to the RSS office. It has nothing to do with the present crisis,” Bhargav told The Indian Express.

Sources familiar with the closed-door talks at the RSS Malwa regional headquarters on Sudarshan Road said the meeting was convened by Rajmohan, the Malwa Prant Pracharak, and focused on failures in crisis management, according to the Indian Express report.

According to an NDTV report citing sources, the mayor was sharply reprimanded for his handling of the Bhagirathpur crisis. It was emphasised that officials must work in coordination with elected representatives, they added.

Madhya Pradesh Congress president Jitu Patwari, who shared a video of the mayor standing outside the RSS office, wrote on X, “When poison is flowing through Indore’s taps, when homes are plunged into mourning over the death of innocent citizens, when the government has failed, should the collector be in the field, in hospitals, among the affected families, or inside the RSS office?”

Patwari said the late night arrival of the Indore collector and mayor at the RSS office wasn’t just a casual meeting. He referred to it as a case of “cutting the nose of administrative impartiality”.

Separately, Patwari on Thursday also accused the collector of “working like a BJP worker”.

In a post on social media, the state Congress unit claimed that the Indore collector now appeared to be operating from the RSS office rather than the collectorate. “Indore collector ka naya pata: RSS karyalaya!!” the party wrote on X.

Rejecting the criticism, BJP spokesperson Shivam Shukla told The Indian Express, “It was a courtesy meeting, and there was nothing wrong with it. Can’t officials meet people? The Congress should stop spreading misinformation about the meeting.”