A fresh round of war of words began between the BJP and Congress as the Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi hit out at RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat saying that his remark that India got “true independence” after the Ram temple consecration amounts to treason and is an insult to every Indian.
Rahul said his party was fighting the “BJP, RSS and the Indian state itself”, triggering a row with the ruling BJP alleging that everything the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha does or says is in the direction of breaking India and dividing the society.
Rahul’s criticism of RSS as well as BJP drew a sharp response from the BJP president JP Nadda and his cabinet colleagues including Nirmala Sitharaman who asked what for the Congress and Rahul Gandhi carry a copy of the Constitution when the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha is using such a language. Nadda alleged that it is not a secret that Rahul Gandhi and his ecosystem have close links with urban Naxals and the deep state who want to “defame, demean and discredit” India.
“Mohan Bhagwat has the audacity to say to the country what he thinks about the independence movement and the Constitution. What he said yesterday is treason... Because he is stating that the Constitution is invalid and the fight against the British was invalid,” Rahul said speaking at the inauguration of the new Congress headquarters in the national Capital.
“He (Bhagwat) has the audacity to say this publicly. In any other country, he would be arrested and tried. That is a fact,” Rahul Gandhi said at the inauguration of the Indira Gandhi Bhawan. “To say that India did not get independence in 1947 is an insult to every Indian. And it is time to stop listening to this nonsense that these people think they can keep parroting out and shouting,” he said.
Rahul said every party worker is fighting this battle of ideologies under difficult circumstances where institutions have been captured by the BJP and the RSS and investigative agencies are being used against opposition leaders.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge also condemned Bhagwat’s remarks and warned that “it would become difficult for him to move around in the country if he continues to make such statements”. The leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha also hit out at the Election Commission and alleged that there is a “serious problem” with the country’s election system.
“It is the duty of the EC to ensure transparency in elections. If there is an increase of one crore in (the number of) voters in Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha in Maharashtra, it is the duty and sacred responsibility of the EC to show us exactly why this has happened. There is a serious problem with our election system,” Rahul said.
Nadda who is also Union Health Minister in Narendra Modi cabinet said Congress’ ugly truth now stands exposed by their own leader. Everything he has done or said has been in the direction of breaking India and dividing our society, Nadda alleged.
Sitharaman said the LoP, who was sworn in by taking oath on the Constitution, is now saying that grand old party is fighting the BJP, the RSS and the Indian State itself. Sharing a video clip of Rahul’s remarks, BJP IT department head Amit Malviya said, “Rahul Gandhi has now declared an open war against the Indian State itself. This is straight out of George Soros’s playbook.”
The BJP president charged that the Congress has a history of encouraging all those forces who want a weak India. “Their greed for power meant compromising the nation’s integrity and betraying the trust of the people,” Nadda said, adding, people of India are wise, and they have decided they will always reject Rahul Gandhi and his rotten ideology.
At a press conference, BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia said Rahul Gandhi had taken oath to preserve the country’s sovereignty and integrity but is now speaking fighting the Indian state.
