Cong attacks Bhagwat's statements on lynchings, economy

Congress on Tuesday mocked RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's objection to the use of the word 'lynching' to describe incidents of mob violence, contending that such usage “defamed” India.

Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh said that incidents of lynching would stop the day the RSS chief started following his own message of communal harmony.

“All problems will end the day Mohan Bhagwat starts following his message of harmony... mob lynching and hatred will also end. Our complaints will end the day (RSS) adopts the principles of love, harmony and the path of Mahatma Gandhi,” Singh, a two-term chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, said.

In his address at the Vijayadashmi function of the RSS in Nagpur, Bhagwat described the word lynching as a “western construct”, and added that it should not be used in the Indian context to defame the country.

Former union minister Anand Sharma expressed shock at Bhagwat's remarks and termed them as insensitive.

“The issue is not Europe or India, English or Hindi. The killing of innocent, hapless people by agitated mobs is unacceptable to humanity. Languages don't matter,” said Sharma, the deputy leader of the Congress in the Rajya Sabha.

He demanded that Bhagwat should come clean on whether he endorsed or condemned such killing of innocent men, women, and children by mobs.