RSS fanatical like SIMI: Rahul

Remarks a slap on nationalism, says BJP

“I know only that both SIMI and the RSS are fanatical and hold fundamentalist views,” he said at a press conference here.

When pointed out that the radical Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) was a proscribed outfit, which was not the case with the RSS, Gandhi stated that this did not matter much for him. Gandhi, who is on a tour of BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh, went on to drive home his point saying there can be no place for people with fanatical views in the Youth Congress.

Asked about the Ayodhya  verdict, Gandhi said it neither condoned the demolition of the Babri Masjid nor the large-scale violence that followed the December 6, 1992 event.

He said the aggrieved parties were free to approach the Supreme Court against the decree, which calls for three-way division of the disputed site, if they so desired. To questions on his becoming the Prime Minister, Gandhi said he has never worked under the assumption that he would one day occupy the top slot.

The young Congress MP was full of praise for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who is “doing a fine job”. “We have a very capable Prime Minister. He is much more capable than me. He is on the job. My responsibilities are Youth Congress and NSUI and I am doing that.”

Asked whether a youth will become the next PM, Gandhi refused to speculate but left everyone guessing, saying “What can be told about the future. Who can tell it”.
Madhya Pradesh BJP President Prabhat Jha felt that the comparison of RSS with SIMI by Rahul is nothing but a slap on nationalism.

“Everybody knows that RSS is a true nationalist organisation and SIMI is a banned extremist outfit.... I don’t have any scale to measure his (Rahul) intelligence,” Jha said in Bhopal.

Asked about Rahul’s comment that sycophants have no place in Youth Congress and it would be better if they join BJP, he said people know the difference between a dynastic party and a democratic party.

Reacting to Gandhi’s remarks, RSS spokesman Ram Madhav said people who make such utterances have to first understand India and the Indian society well. “It’s not enough to know only Italy and Colombia,” he said.

Asking Gandhi to brush up his knowledge before making “meaningless statements”, Madhav said the Congress general secretary should know the difference between the RSS and banned outfits. He should know the history of Congress “which has been accused of fundamentalism in the last six decades”, said Madhav.

In Bhubaneswar, Bajarang Dal’s national chief Subhash Chauhan said:  “I never expected Rahul Gandhi to turn so senile early in life so as to forget the difference between patriots and anti-nationals.”

The Congress, in turn, defended Gandhi’s remarks, saying the RSS had no answer to his criticism. “What Rahul Gandhi has said is correct. The RSS has no answer to what Gandhi has said. The Congress does not have to learn history and culture from the RSS. They are known masters in spreading rumour,” AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh said.

Singh said the RSS spokesman should read history. He said the RSS supported the British during the freedom struggle while a senior BJP leader had called founder of Pakistan M A Jinnah secular.

The Congress leader said a number of people belonging to the Sangh Parivar organisations have been found to be involved in terror incidents. Congress general secretary Janardan Dwivedi said that Gandhi made a political comment and reply to any such comment should be civilised.