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'Won't call RSS Sangh Parivar': Rahul Gandhi in latest attack
Last month, while campaigning in poll-bound Tamil Nadu, he said that RSS and BJP have used money power to destroy “institutional balance”.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday attacked the Rashtriya Swayasevak Sangh (RSS), claiming that it does not have the values of a family. Gandhi said on Twitter that he will stop calling Rss the Sangh Parivar (family).
"I believe that RSS and its related organisations shouldn't be called Sangh Parivar - a family has women, repect for elders, and feelings of compassion and love - which aren't there in RSS. I won't call the RSS Sangh Parivar," according to a translation of Gandhi's tweet in Hindi.
This is the latest attack on the RSS from Gandhi in the election season. Last week, while releasing the manifesto for Assam Assembly elections, the Congress leader accused the RSS and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of "attacking the diverse cultures of this nation".
"They are attacking our languages, history, our way of thinking, our way of being. So this manifesto provides a guarantee that we will defend the idea of the state of Assam," Gandhi said.
Last month, while campaigning in Tamil Nadu, he said that RSS and BJP have used money power to destroy “institutional balance”, which manifested in several ways such as “poaching” of MLAs and “infiltration” of judiciary.
“Over the last six years, there has been a systematic attack on elected institutions and free press that hold the nation together. Democracy doesn't die with a bang, it dies slowly. The RSS has destroyed the institutional balance,” Gandhi said.
He also said that democracy was “dead” in India because of the RSS and the alleged erosion of Parliament, state assemblies, panchayats, judiciary and a free press.
The RSS, meanwhile, welcomed the remarks, saying it is a compliment. "RSS means discipline, nationalism and all other good qualities. If somebody says that RSS is influencing the judiciary or any field, people should feel happy that something good will happen. It is a compliment given by Rahul Gandhi."
The Assembly elections will be held in four states - West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala - and union territory of Puducherry in the coming weeks. The electoral exercise will begin on March 27 - with eight phases in West Bengal, three in Assam and one each in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry - and the results will be declared on May 2.
