Rahul Gandhi said institutions are India are under threat
The BJP’s ideological parent, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), is a “fundamentalist” and “fascist” organisation, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has said.
Speaking at a session organised by Chatham House, a London-based think tank, Mr Gandhi yesterday said various institutions in India are currently under threat and that the RSS has “captured all of India’s institutions”.
“The nature of the democratic contest in India has completely changed. The reason it has changed is because one organisation called the RSS, a fundamentalist, fascist organisation, has captured pretty much all of India’s institutions,” he said.
The BJP has accused the Congress leader of defaming India abroad. Several Union ministers, including Anurag Thakur, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Arjun Munda, have spoken out against Mr Gandhi, terming his allegations lies.
Speaking at the London event, Mr Gandhi said the RSS can be called a “secret society” that is built along the lines of the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist organisation banned in several countries for terror links.
“The idea is to use the democratic contest to come to power and then to subvert the democratic contest afterwards,” Mr Gandhi said.
The Congress leader’s remarks are the latest in his big offensive against the ruling BJP during his ongoing trip abroad.
Speaking at the same event, he also said that the BJP likes to believe that it will always be in power.
Speaking on what led to the Congress’ failure in the 2014 election, when the BJP came to power, he said the UPA government missed the shift in political discourse from the rural to the urban space.
“We were focusing a lot on the rural space and we missed the ball in the beginning on the urban space. That is a fact. Those things are there. But to say that the BJP is in power and the Congress gone, that is actually a ridiculous idea,” he said.
Hitting out the Congress leader, Union Minister Thakur asked him “not to betray the nation”. “Don’t betray India, Rahul Gandhiji. The objections to India’s foreign policy are evidence of your scant understanding of the issue. No one will believe the lies you spread about India from foreign soil,” he said.
