Public must decide if those who turned country into jail should talk about democracy: RSS on Rahul Gandhi’s UK remarks

"How is democracy under threat? There are elections happening across the country," Dattatreya Hosabale said.

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat (L) during Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha, in Panipat, Sunday, March 12, 2023. (PTI Photo)

As the Parliament witnesses a standoff between the BJP and the Opposition over Rahul Gandhi’s remarks in London that democracy in India is dying, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Tuesday joined the ruling party’s tirade against the Congress leader. RSS’ general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale stated that “Rahul should speak more responsibly”.

“Rahul Gandhi is a politician, he should speak more responsibly. He may have his own political agenda. His ancestors too have taken some actions against the Sangh. But people know the truth,” Hosabale said.

Hosabale was speaking at a press conference after the ongoing annual meeting of the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha in Haryana. Hitting out at the Congress party for the Emergency imposed in 1975, Hosable added, “I was in jail during Emergency. Those who turned the country into a jail and never apologised for it, whether they have the right to talk about democracy is something that the public must decide. How is democracy under threat? There are elections happening across the country.”

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In his speech at Cambridge University’s Judge Business School, Rahul had said, “Everybody knows and it’s been in the news a lot that Indian democracy is under pressure, is under attack, right. I’m an Opposition leader in India and we’re navigating that space. What’s happening, the institutional framework which is required for a democracy – Parliament, a free press, the Judiciary, just the idea of mobilisation, just the idea of moving around, these are all getting constrained. So we are facing an attack on the basic structure of Indian democracy in the Constitution.”

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In another interaction with the Indian Journalists’ Association in London, Rahul had claimed, “I think the basic idea that the RSS and the BJP need to be fought and need to be defeated is deeply entrenched in the minds of the Opposition.”

His remarks during his visit to the UK have caused a stir in India, with the ruling party accusing him of ‘discrediting’ India. On Monday, Union ministers Rajnath Singh and Piyush Goyal led the BJP’s attack against the Congress leader in Parliament, and demanded an apology from Rahul.

Defending Rahul’s remarks, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge Monday reminded the BJP about some remarks made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visits abroad. Kharge mentioned PM Modi’s visit to China. “In China, Modi had said that ‘earlier you felt ashamed of being born in India, but now you feel proud to represent the country’… Who said this? The Prime Minister had said it,” Kharge said.

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