It's treason: Rahul Gandhi on Mohan Bhagwat's 'true independence' remark

The leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha also hit out at the Election Commission and alleged that there is a 'serious problem' with the country's election system.

New Delhi: Top Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday put RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on the firing line for his remarks that India got “true independence” only after Ram temple consecration, saying it amounted to “treason” and one should stop listening to such “nonsense” by those who want to run the country by a “shady, hidden, secret society”.

Rahul's remarks came at the inauguration of ‘Indira Bhavan’, the new Congress headquarters, where he also said Bhagwat’s speech in Indore on Monday was an “insult to every Indian” and such statements in other countries would have attracted arrest followed by trial in court.

At the event, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge also warned Bhagwat that it could become difficult for him to move around the country if he continues to make such statements. “It is a matter of shame that even though we got independence in 1947, they are not acknowledging it because they did not struggle for it, go to jail, and therefore they do not remember it. We remember because our people struggled and died for it,” he said.

In his 18-minute speech in which he also attacked the Election Commission alleging that there is a “serious problem” with the country’s election system, Rahul said Bhagwat attacked the freedom movement and essentially the “fruit of that movement”, the Constitution, by saying it was not the symbol of India's independence.

The Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha said Bhagwat’s speech symbolised the fight between the "two visions of India in which the Congress stands for the idea of Constitution and the other stands for a centralised knowledge and understanding of the country."

“Mohan Bhagwat has the audacity to tell the country what he thinks about the independence movement, what he thinks about the Constitution. What he said (on Monday) is treason. Because he is stating that the Constitution is invalid...the fight against the British was invalid. He has the audacity to say this publicly. In any other country, he would be arrested and tried. That is a fact,” he said.

“To say that India did not get independence in 1947 is an insult to every Indian. And it is time to stop listening to this nonsense that these people think they can keep parroting out, screaming and shouting,” he said.

Rahul said every Congress worker is fighting the battle of ideologies under “difficult circumstances where institutions have been captured by the BJP and the RSS and investigative agencies are being used against Opposition leaders." “Do not think that we are fighting a fair fight. We are now fighting the BJP, RSS and the Indian State itself,” he said.

Referring to those who follow the Congress ideology, he said they are the people who salute the tricolour but the people in power now do not salute the national flag or believe in the Constitution.

"They (RSS-BJP) have a completely different vision about India and they want India to be run by a shady, hidden, secret society. They want it to be run by one man and they want to crush the voice of Dalits, minorities, backward castes, tribals and this is their agenda," he said.

He said the new Congress headquarters symbolises what is written in the Constitution, "as it does not consider one language or culture superior or inferior". Congress has worked with Indian people to build the country on the foundation of the Constitution, he said.

“We are fighting a civilisational war with these people, they are attacking every day the ideas that we believe in,” he said adding, he wants to emphasise clearly that there is no other party in this country which can stop the RSS-BJP.

He said that was because the Congress is an “ideological party”. He said Congress’ ideology, like the one followed by the RSS, did not emerge recently but has a history of thousands of years.

“And it has been fighting the RSS ideology for thousands of years. We have our symbols, Lord Shiva, Buddha, Guru Nanak, Kabir, Mahatma Gandhi…who have shown the correct path. Please name the symbols of the RSS that are revered in India today. Name one. Was Nanak from RSS ideology, was Buddha, was Lord Krishna from RSS ideology?” he asked.

What did Bhagwat say?

"The date of Ram temple consecration in Ayodhya should be celebrated as 'Pratishtha Dwadashi', as the true independence of Bharat, which faced 'parachakra' (enemy attack) for several centuries, was established on this day. After India got political independence from the British on August 15, 1947, a written Constitution was made according to the path shown by that specific vision, which comes out of the self of the country, but the document was not run according to the spirit of the vision at that time," Bhagwat was quoted by PTI as saying.