Attend RSS ‘shakha’ for few days, BJP to Rahul Gandhi

PTI, Jan 11, 2023, 8:46 AM IST

Aday after Rahul Gandhi targeted the RSS, Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij on Tuesday hit out at the Congress leader, saying he should attend an RSS ‘shakha’ for a few days as he knows nothing about the organisation.

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said even Congress leaders are perplexed by Gandhi’s remarks.

”He remains a Pappu,” Khattar said referring to the term which means naive and ignorant and is often used by the BJP leaders to target Rahul Gandhi.

Attacking the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Rahul Gandhi on Monday, during a corner meeting in Ambala as part of his Bharat Jodo Yatra, had called its members the ”21st century Kauravas”.

Vij lashed out at Gandhi, saying he was talking about the poor but sleeping in a ”palace on wheels” during his Yatra.

”He has no right to comment on RSS about which he knows nothing,” the BJP leader said, adding that ”today the country stands because of RSS”.

Rahul Gandhi should go to an RSS ‘Shakha’ for a few days to know about RSS, he said.

Vij also took a swipe at Gandhi for saying he decided to wear only T-shirts during the foot march after meeting three poor girls ”shivering in torn clothes” in Madhya Pradesh.

”Rahul Gandhi should have at least gone to the house of those girls to see how they live, where they sleep… he sleeps in a palace on wheels, which has all luxuries and is part of a fleet of vehicles which accompany him,” the minister said, Vij said millions of rupees are being spent on his travel and asked about the source of the funds.

On Gandhi’s remarks, Khattar told reporters, ”The kind of remarks he makes, one does not understand what philosophy he follows….” ”Sometimes he becomes Shiv Bakht (Lord Shiva follower) and then asks who raises (Har Har Mahadev) Jaikara, sometimes he targets Pujaris. One is not able to understand what is his direction… it is not that only we are perplexed. Even Congress people are perplexed. ”Anyway, he remains a Pappu,” the chief minister said.

Gandhi on Monday alleged that RSS people never say ”Har Har Mahadev” and ”Jai Siya Ram” as they are against India’s values and ”tapasya”.

The Bharat Jodo Yatra, which started from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu on September 7, will conclude in Srinagar by January 30, with Gandhi hoisting the national flag there.

It moved to Punjab on Tuesday after it passed seven Haryana districts in two phases, with the Haryana leg concluding in Ambala district.

The march has so far covered Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.