Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi’s just-concluded 3-day Madhya Pradesh tour has rattled the state BJP leaders not only since he equated the RSS with Simi but also because in his message to the youth asking them to join the Youth Congress in large numbers, they apparently see a threat and a possible erosion of their own popular base.
State BJP president Prabhat Jha immediately went on the offensive and described Mr Gandhi as immature. He even said that Mr Gandhi talks “absurd” and should not be taken seriously. When asked to comment on his remark bracketing RSS with Simi, Mr Jha said that this comes as a slap to nationalism.
He even went on to describe Mr Gandhi’s advent in the Congress as an obvious “corollary to the system of dynastic rule”. He said, “We will not allow a dynasty to demolish democracy in this country. Rather it will be the other way round.”
In this war of words, what has got blurred is the fact that starting his 3-day tour of Madhya Pradesh to give momentum to the Youth Congress membership drive, Mr Gandhi had said that only those among the youth would be allowed to join the Youth Congress who do not support the ideology of Simi or the RSS. Later at his press conference in the state capital, he had clarified saying, “I was speaking about ideology and my statement was as far as Youth Congress was concerned. We will not allow hardline fundamentalist ideology.”