Digvijaya Singh’s ‘learn from RSS’ remark triggers Congress pushback; Tharoor strikes cautious note

New Delhi: Senior leader Digvijaya Singh’s nudge to Congress to learn from the RSS saw a pushback on Sunday from leaders like Pawan Khera and Manickam Tagore who said that there is nothing for the 140-year-old party to learn from a “divisive force” while Shashi Tharoor backed the need for strengthening the party apparatus.

This comes amid reports that Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi told Digvijaya after a party function here that “you did your job yesterday”, an enigmatic remark that could be interpreted as positive for raising concerns on organisation as well as a sarcastic one for seeking to draw a parallel with RSS and Congress systems.

Singh’s two tweets in the past one week and his remarks at the Congress Working Committee on Saturday on “over centralisation" in organisation were interpreted among a section as a message to Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and a subtle sounding of the bugle against his trusted aide Congress General Secretary (Organisation) KC Venugopal.

This is not the first time that Singh has put the party on the wrong foot by questioning Pulwama terror strike, 2016 surgical strikes, Batla House encounter and Mumbai terror attack among other things. Leaders claim that Singh’s tweets bringing Rahul on the line of fire was due to his unhappiness over the way organisational revamp was designed in Madhya Pradesh.

As his tweet suggested that the Congress should learn from the RSS on organisation citing how a grassroot leader Narendra Modi was promoted as Prime Minister, Congress Media and Publicity Department chairperson Pawan Khera said, "there is nothing to learn from the RSS. What can an organisation transformed by Mahatma Gandhi learn from RSS?"

Congress Lok Sabha Whip Manickam Tagore alleged that the RSS is an organisation built on hatred and it spreads hatred. "Can you learn anything from Al-Qaeda? Al-Qaeda, is an organisation of hatred. What is there to learn from that organisation?”he said. Asked whether actions should be taken, Tagore said Singh is an old leader.

Tharoor, who is known for his stand-off with the leadership, appeared to support Singh by saying that there is a need to strengthen the organisation. However, he said, "we have a history of 140 years, and we can learn a lot from it. We can learn from ourselves, too. Discipline is very important in any party."

BJP sought to fish in troubled waters with its spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla claiming that the Congress is now split into the Rahul faction and the Priyanka faction.

"Continuous attacks against the Rahul faction indicate a loss of confidence in him. Leaders are submitting no-confidence motions against Rahul. Now Rahul's mentor Digivijaya Singh is tweeting that Rahul cannot be convinced. Leaders like TS Singhdeo and Rashid Alvi are supporting Singh. This appears to be a 'Rahul Hatao' campaign," he said.