Seems Dattatreya Hosabale's recent US trip impacted him as well as RSS: Congress's dig over Pakistan remarks

New Delhi: The Congress on Wednesday took a swipe at RSS functionary Dattatreya Hosabale over his remarks that there should always be a window for dialogue with Pakistan, saying his recent US trip has impacted him as well as the Sangh.

The opposition party also wondered how the "bhakt brigade, including the various TV channels", would have frothed, fumed and fulminated if the remarks were made by someone else.

Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh tagged a post on X carrying the video clip of Hosable's remarks in an interview to PTI.

"It appears that the recent US trip of Shri Hosabale, during which one of his colleagues admitted to the PM doing what the US wanted him to do, has impacted him as well as the RSS," Ramesh said on X.

"Just imagine how the bhakt brigade including the various TV channels would have frothed, fumed and fulminated if..," Ramesh said.

In an interview with PTI Videos, Hosabale has said people-to-people contact is key to breaking the deadlock with Pakistan and there should always be a window for dialogue.

Hosabale said Pakistan's military and political leadership have lost India's confidence and it is time for civil society to lead the way.

"The security and self-respect of a country have to be protected and the government of the day should take care of it. But at the same time, we need not close the doors. We should always be ready to engage them in a dialogue," he said.

The RSS general secretary termed people-to-people contact the key in breaking the deadlock between the two countries and said that it "should be tried more and more now".

The RSS had been on a mission to remove the misconceptions about it in the western world with senior leader Hosabale reaching out to intellectuals and academics in the US and the UK last month to convey the aims and objectives of the organisation in its centenary year.

Hosabale, the RSS general secretary, toured different cities across the US, addressing conferences at the Stanford University in San Francisco and Hudson Institute here and meeting a cross-section of the Indian diaspora.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had dubbed the RSS as "Rashtriya Surrender Sangh" and alleged that its leader Ram Madhav has revealed the outfit's true nature of "farzi (fake) nationalism" here and "pure servility" in the US.

He was referring to a video of Madhav from an event in the US, where the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leader said that India agreed to stop buying oil from Iran and Russia and also agreed to higher tariffs imposed by the US.

Madhav, however, later apologised, saying what he said was "factually incorrect" as India did not agree to stop importing oil from Russia and had "vigorously protested" the 50 per cent tariff imposition by the Trump administration.