3 min readHoshiarpurJan 18, 2023 05:42 AM IST
First published on: Jan 17, 2023 at 02:34 PM IST
Dismissing speculations about him reaching out to cousin and BJP MP Varun Gandhi, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi Tuesday said their ideologies do not match and also declared that he will not visit an RSS office even if someone slits his throat.
“My ideology does not match with his ideology. I can never go to a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh office. For that to happen, you will have to first slit my throat. My family has an ideology, it has a thought system. I can meet him with love, hug him. But I cannot accept that ideology, that is impossible,” Gandhi said.
He was addressing a press conference on the sidelines of the sixth day of his footmarch’s Punjab leg.
The Waynad MP said that Varun once told him that the RSS was doing good work in the country. “I told him that had he read a bit about his own family’s history and understand what family’s ideology was, he wouldn’t have said that. But I don’t have any hatred (towards Varun) or anything like that.”
Gandhi’s remarks on his cousin comes amid speculation that the Pilibhit MP, who often has been critical of BJP, might be joining the Congress in near future.
The Congress leader also accused the RSS and the BJP of controlling institutions.
“RSS and BJP have captured all the institutions of India and they exercise pressure on them. There is pressure on press, bureaucracy, the Election Commission, judiciary. This is no more a fight between one political party and another. It is now a fight between the institutions, which were captured by them and the Opposition. Out of which one factor is electronic voting machines,” Gandhi said while replying to reservations by some opposition parties on the use of EVMs for conducting polls.
He said the normal democratic process that existed in the country is now missing.
When asked that he has been attacking RSS in his speeches, Gandhi said Hinduism or any other religion does not talk about spreading hatred. “Hindu religion is a peace loving religion, one which connects,” he said
On RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s recent remarks that “it was natural for Hindus to be aggressive and Muslims should abandon the narrative of supremacy”, Gandhi said, “I do not know which Hinduism he is quoting. I never heard this. I have read the Gita and Upanishads and I never heard that Hindus should be aggressive.”
“Hinduism is all about self-observation and about understanding the self, about humility. I do not know what he is talking about. Perhaps he has not read these books. Maybe this is some other idea that he has picked up… Even Lord Ram felt compassion for Ravan when he was dying. Lord Ram was gentle, loving, affectionate. I don’t know, where from this gentleman is getting these ideas. They are certainly not Hindu ideas. They are RSS’s ideas,” he added.
In a press conference Tuesday, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi spoke about his cousin and BJP MP Varun Gandhi (left) (PTI/Express Photo) 
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