Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi kicked off a political storm by claiming that the Opposition was fighting not just against the BJP and the RSS but the Indian state itself. “Do not think that we are fighting a fair fight. There is no fairness in this. If you believe that we are fighting a political organisation called the BJP or RSS, you have not understood what is going on. The BJP and the RSS have captured every single institution of our country. We are now fighting the BJP, the RSS and the Indian State itself”. The Congress MP’s claims to fight against the Indian State in the backdrop of rout in Haryana and Maharashtra unleashed a war of words with the BJP. Union Minister and BJP chief JP Nadda alleged that Rahul Gandhi and his ecosystem have ‘close links with Urban Naxals and the Deep State’ who want to defame, demean and discredit India. FM Nirmala Sitharaman wondered how the LoP, who was sworn in by taking oath on the Constitution, was now speaking against the Indian State itself. She wanted to know why Congress men and Rahul Gandhi were carrying a copy of the Constitution in their hand! Main thrust of Rahul’s attack on the RSS made at the launch of the new AICC office was reserved for RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat who had described Ram Mandir’s “pran prathishtha” as true Independence of India. Bhagwat said that the date of Ram temple consecration in Ayodhya should be celebrated as “Pratishtha Dwadashi”. Rahul called Bhagwat’s comments as an act of treason as it disregarded India’s freedom struggle. None of the Opposition parties have visited Ram Mandir out of fear of losing Muslim votes.
