Retired Mumbai High Court judge Justice BG Kolse Patil triggered a major controversy on Sunday (7 November 2025) evening after making sharply critical remarks about Hinduism, Brahmins, and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) at a Sufi saints’ conference in Basavakalyan, Bidar district. The event was organised by MLC Salim Ahmed and inaugurated by Karnataka Environment Minister Eshwar Khandre.

Addressing the gathering, Justice Patil claimed that Hinduism was not originally a religion, asserting that the term itself was of Persian origin and later shaped by Brahmins to consolidate power. He said Hinduism “was created by Brahmins to enslave people” and argued that the word “Hindu” carried a derogatory meaning.

He also alleged that the RSS was behind several communal riots in India, including the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, and said that many people were hesitant to criticise the organisation. According to him, the role of the RSS in such incidents had been obscured over time.

Expanding on his claims, Justice Patil said, “It not the Hindu religion, it is the Brahmin religion. Until 1900, and even before that, Brahmins themselves used to follow a different faith, that the term Hindu is an insult given by the Persians. We the people, do not understand the slur/insult. There was never a religion called Hinduism, there was only Brahmin religion. But Brahmins, using their intellect, enslaved us, divided us and made everyone lose their identity – all this to keep Hindus fragmented and weak. This is wrong, but who will understand this truth? All these so-called saints, masters, and Maulvis are part of the same system. Their job is to keep us divided. Better late but let us start. The poisonous people are so less, they are not even 1% of the entire population. So, if the 99% of us unite, how will we lose? Later, when you see all the riots, the masterminds and instigators of all riots are RSS people. Even the 1984 anti-Sikh riots was started by the RSS people. There was one leader, he called Indira Gandhi as Durga. It was the RSS people who started the riots there. Later, the Congress people went there. But they told the Sikhs that it was the Congress who killed the Sikhs. It is wrong. The first spark came from the RSS side.”

#BreakingNews | ‘Hinduism is not a religion’: Former Bombay High Court judge’s shocking remark sparks debate

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Justice Patil reiterated that neither the RSS nor Brahmins should be feared because they constituted a small fraction of the population. He urged religious figures and community leaders to speak openly about historical injustices.

The event, attended by several Sufi saints and community representatives, took place in Basavakalyan, a town known for its syncretic traditions.

Previous Statements By Retd Justice Patil

This is not the first time that formed judge Patil is letting his tongue loose on Hindus and the RSS.

In this video, he claims the RSS carried out 18 blasts! He says, “There are about 18 bomb blasts which have been committed either by the RSS or by institutions associated with the RSS. The accused involved are office-bearers at the district level or state level of the RSS, Sangh pracharaks. In all these cases, one Raghuvanshi, who was then ATS chief of Maharashtra, involved only Muslim boys in those cases and did not touch the Hindu people, the Hindu accused.​ It is only Karkare, who was a very upright officer and who performed a miracle, who found that the cases in which Muslim boys were involved were false. In fact, Colonel Purohit, Pragya Thakur Sharma and others, even one Asimanand — you are not bound to give a confession. Even thereafter, Asimanand confessed that he could not bear the torture that these Muslim boys were going through. Therefore, he gave a statement, and he said: “When Vajpayee or Advani do not dare to tell me anything, why should I give false evidence against these Muslim boys?” So, he gave evidence against all these accused, and that confession, though he was warned that he was not bound to give it, he still gave. Now they say that confession was taken under pressure.​ If you see the record of the confession, he was given an opportunity three times to rethink, and thereafter he gave the confession, saying that even Advani and Vajpayee cannot stop him, so why should a magistrate stop him. So they were involved, there is no doubt. But all criminals have come to power. You know that the Chief Justice of India said: “If an opportunity is given, I will hang Modi.”

Some Earlier Statements of Former Bombay HC judge B. G. Kolse Patil: pic.twitter.com/QPEQ8DtpSk

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In this video from 3 years ago, he claims he suffered in childhood because of the “caste system” and goes on to blame the Brahmins.

He says, “I was born in a hut. From there, my journey as a migrant began, we had two goats and a few hens, and that’s how we lived. I am an example, the son of a laborer. Since childhood, I have seen how Brahmins looked down upon us, how they treated us as inferior. I experienced all of this firsthand. I too worked as a laborer. For four years, I left school and did manual work. After those four years, when I returned to school, the other children were about 14 years old, while I was already 18. The Brahmin boys there — their fathers were educated and came from Udaipur — it was then that I realized that people like us were not even expected to study. From that time, I began to study and analyze Brahmanwad (Brahminism) — its structure and mentality.”

He goes on to criticise the RSS for all things sundry. He says, “I am talking about 1976. That was when I gave my first public speech at a sarvajanik sabha (public gathering). It was about RSS Mukt Bharat – an “RSS-free India.” I said then, and I continue to say now, that the poisonous ideology of the RSS is at the root of all our sufferings. Just as in every religion, there are maulvis in Islam, fathers and priests in Christianity — who hold their own followers tightly in their grip, this too is a toxic ideology. But RSS ideology is especially venomous. That’s why, since 1976, I have been warning about it. And today, it has been proven true.

You can see how the country has been ruined in the eight years of Modi’s rule. When Modi came to power in 2015 and was at the peak of his popularity, I organized a large public meeting in Pune, at Shaniwarwada, the stronghold of the RSS, to announce the RSS Mukt Bharat Abhiyan formally. We declared then that we would stand against the RSS and its ideology. Even at that time, as well as today, people across all castes and religions were so afraid that many did not even dare to attend the meeting. That was the level of fear. What inspired us? It was the poverty and humiliation we had seen since childhood. We were treated like dirt. Even if we stayed quiet at home, we were beaten. But when we learned their “computer language,” when we became their competitors, that threatened them.”

He goes on to say that Sant Tukaram whose abhangs are sung to this day, especially by Brahmins, was “murdered” and was “disguised” as a ‘samadhi’. He says, “Sadly, our people often prefer to live in an imaginary world – of heaven and hell. Even today, in places like Dehu, if we say that Sant Tukaram was murdered – that his disappearance wasn’t divine ‘samadhi’ but a killing – our own community members will attack us. Such is the power of mental conditioning and religious control. We have seen this with our own eyes and felt it in our lives. That is why we continue to work together every day — against the poisonous mentality present in every religion. We work for humanity. If people truly walked the path of truth, of compassion that saints and prophets talked about, the world would shake. But people do not want to do that. The biggest problem within Hinduism is caste. We are trapped in these divisions. To move forward, we must rise above this caste-based discrimination. Only then can we progress as true human beings.”

In July 2025, when the 2008 Malegaon blast case verdict came out acquitting the accused, he called it “death of justice” and “a blow to India’s democracy and secularism”. Reacting minutes after the judgment was delivered, he said he was “shocked” by the outcome.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Kolse Patil said, “I found it extremely difficult to believe that six people died in the Malegaon bomb blast, 100 were injured, and no one has been found guilty in the last 17 years. If no one is guilty, did the blast take place on its own? The ownership of the motorcycle which was used for the blast was proved. There were four meetings between the accused before the blasts. One meeting was held in Bhopal, two in Indore and one in Ujjain. They had recorded the meetings. When they were asked by ATS as to why the meetings were recorded, they said it was done to ensure that no one who attended it betrays them.”

The retired judge said the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), then led by Hemant Karkare, had conducted a detailed investigation and filed the chargesheet after Karkare’s death. According to him, the chargesheet itself laid out the gravity of the alleged conspiracy and the material gathered by investigators. He noted that the ATS had recovered several audio clips of meetings between the accused, explaining that only a portion could be transcribed and therefore the laptop seized from the accused was submitted to the court along with the chargesheet.

He pointed out that the ATS had stated in the chargesheet that “it was a big conspiracy to topple the central government, deny the existence of the Indian Constitution and bring in Manusmriti”.

Kolse Patil further added, “It was also mentioned in the chargesheet that the accused had tried to take the help of Israel and Nepal.”

He said the acquittals would be understandable only if the prosecution had failed to place material evidence before the court. “But if adequate evidence has been produced by the prosecution and still the accused have been acquitted, then I will call it death of justice and a blow to India’s democracy and secularism,” he said.

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