Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee President Harshwardhan Sapkal with the great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, Tushar Gandhi and other party leaders, takes part in the ‘Samvidhan Satyagraha Padyatra’ from Deekshabhoomi.
Credit: PTI
Mumbai: Maharashtra Congress chief Harshvardhan Sapkal attacked the Sangh Parivar saying, the RSS must burn its ten faces of reactionary politics during Vijayadashami.
“We have conveyed our statement to the RSS openly. We only pray that nature and destiny grant them wisdom. On Dussehra, the burning of Ravana signifies not the burning of a person but of evil tendencies. The ten faces of the Sangh are not just spread in ten directions but hidden in every reactionary force. They must be condemned and burnt…his is our expectation,” Sapkal, a former MLA, said in Nagpur on Monday.
Sapkal was accompanied by Tushar Gandhi, great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of the Nation, at the launch of the Constitution Satyagraha March from Nagpur to Wardha.
Condemning in strong words the open threat made by a BJP spokesperson to shoot Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi in the chest, Sapkal said: “The descendants of those who shot Mahatma Gandhi in the chest are still alive, and this ideology has arisen from the RSS’s black cap. But if you so much as touch a single hair on Rahul Gandhi, beware—this is our warning.”
Speaking on the occasion, Tushar Gandhi said, this march has been organised for democracy, the Constitution, and the people’s right to satyagraha—it is the outcry of the people.
“We are doing Samvidhan Satyagraha Padyatra to strengthen and protect the constitution. We are carrying the message of love against the hatred spread in the society and politics by Sangh and its affiliates because if hatred increases, it would be adverse for the unity of the country,” said Tushar Gandhi, a politician-turned-social activist.
Led by Congress, the Maha Vikas Aghadi allies including Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) and Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) and several other organisations are taking part in the foot march.
The 91-km long march commenced on Monday from the Deekshabhoomi, in Nagpur, a revered monument where Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, the chief architect of Constitution of India, embraced Buddhism with his followers on 14 October 1956.
The padayatra will end on 2 October at the Sevagram Ashram, the residence of Mahatma Gandhi from 1936 to 1948 till his death.
Besides being the Gandhi Jayanti, 2 October this year coincides with Vijayadashami, the day when the RSS celebrates its foundation day in Nagpur.
Large crowds gathered at the launch, voicing solidarity in what state Congress president Harshavardhan Sapkal described as a nationwide fight to preserve constitutional integrity.
“On the occasion of the centenary , the RSS should dissolve itself, disband illegal organizations, or burn Golwalkar’s Bunch of Thoughts and accept the Constitution in its entirety,” said Sapkal.
With slogans of Satyamev Jayate resonating, the Padayatra positions itself as both a symbolic and practical movement for constitutional accountability.