In London, Rahul Gandhi calls RSS ‘fascist’; points out reasons for Congress's decline

Addressing an in-conversation session at the Chatham House think tank in London, Rahul Gandhi said the BJP likes to believe that they have come to power in India and they are going to be in power eternally, that is not the case.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi described the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) as a “fundamentalist” and “fascist” organisation and claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) likes to believe it will be in power in India eternally, and to say the Congress is “gone” is a ridiculous idea.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi pays tribute to the statue of BR Ambedkar at Ambedkar House in London on Sunday, (PTI)

Addressing an in-conversation session at the Chatham House think tank in London on Monday evening to round off his week-long UK tour, Gandhi said the nature of democratic contest in India has completely changed and the reason is that “one organisation called RSS - a fundamentalist, fascist organisation has basically captured pretty much all of India's institutions”.

According to Gandhi, the RSS is a secret society. “It's built along the lines of the Muslim Brotherhood, and the idea is to use the democratic contest to come to power and then subvert the democratic contest afterwards,” the Congress leader claimed.

Gandhi also pinpointed the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government's lack of focus on a shifting nature of the political discourse in India as the key factor behind its failure.

“To put it in perspective, if you look at the time from independence to now, the Congress party has been in power for the majority of the time,” he said.

“Before the BJP was in power for 10 years, we were in power for 10 years. The BJP likes to believe that they have come to power in India and they are going to be in power eternally, that is not the case,” Gandhi added.

The Narendra Modi-led NDA government came to power in India in 2014.

Rahul Gandhi on reasons for Congress's failures:

The Wayanad MP pointed to a set of changes taking place in India that had caught the Congress and the UPA government off guard, such as a shift from rural to urban.

"We were focusing a lot on the rural space and we missed the ball at 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.

Gandhi also highlighted the condition of the Dalits and minorities in India. “In India, you can see what is being done to Dalits, tribals, and minorities. It is not that Congress is saying it. There are articles in the foreign press all the time that there is a serious problem with Indian democracy,” he said.

The Congress leader also alleged the various institutions in the country were under threat.

"It shocked me how successful they have been at capturing the different institutions of our country. Press, Judiciary, Parliament, and Election Commission are all under threat and are controlled in one way or the other," Rahul Gandhi said.

"You can ask any Opposition leader as to how agencies are used. My phone had Pegasus on it, which was not happening when we were in power," he added.

The BJP has accused Gandhi of maligning India on foreign soil while praising China. Union minister Anurag Thakur slammed the Congress leader on Monday for his remarks and asked him not to betray the nation. Thakur also alleged that Gandhi has resorted to “maligning India” from foreign soil as part of a conspiracy to hide his failures.

The Congress leader had launched a scathing attack at the Centre during a lecture at Cambridge University days back, alleging that an attack has been unleashed on the basic structure of Indian democracy while also claiming that Israeli spyware Pegasus was being used to snoop on his phone.

(With inputs from agencies)