Now, Rahul equates RSS with Muslim Brotherhood

Congress president is immature, retorts BJP

Unfazed by criticism from the BJP for targeting the Modi Government by drawing an ISIS analogy on foreign soil, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Friday unleashed a venomous attack on the RSS, comparing the Sangh with Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt. Rahul was speaking at an International Institute of Strategic Studies in London.

“RSS is trying to change the nature of India. Other parties haven’t tried to capture India’s institutions. RSS’ idea is similar to the idea of Muslim Brotherhood in the Arab world,” said Rahul.

“The BJP-RSS people are dividing our own people. They are spreading hatred in our country. Our job is to bring the people together and take the country forward and we have shown how to do it,” he said.

Reacting to Rahul’s speech, the BJP called him “immature”  for comparing the RSS with the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Congress president added, “In 1947, the West did not trust India, but India proved the West wrong. We got success because thousands of people have created institutions and this is the institutions which are being attacked today.”

While addressing a gathering at Bucerius Summer School in Hamburg, Germany, on Thursday, Rahul had claimed a situation similar to one that led to the creation of ISIS in the West Asia is prevalent in India under the Modi Government Rahul also saw the RSS as the brain behind the idea of demonetisation. “The idea came directly from the RSS, bypassed the Finance Minister and RBI, and was planted in the Prime Minister’s head,” he said.

Rahul also slammed the Modi Government’s foreign policy and accused it of having a poor strategy regarding Pakistan and China.

“I would like to say that even with Pakistan, they lack a coherent strategy. One of my main complaints about the current Government in India is that I don’t see a coherent strategy based on India’s strengths. I only see knee-jerk reactions,” Rahul said.

Accusing Modi of centralising power, Rahul said India succeeded only when the power was decentralised. “Today power is concentrated in the PM,” he said.

Claiming that the Indian PM “holds too much power,” Rahul praised the Chinese governance system and said India should learn how to run local governments from China.

Criticising the Ministry of External Affairs, Rahul said Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj is mostly busy in issuing visas. “By breaking the monopoly of MEA and by making it more accessible to other elements of society, a modern MEA can be formed. The Foreign Minister of India spends a massive amount of time in just issuing visas,” he said.

While talking about the Doklam standoff in 2017, the Congress president said that if Modi was watchful, the situation could have been averted. “It was not an isolated issue, it was a part of a sequence of events. The PM views Doklam as an event. If he was carefully watching the process, he could’ve stopped it,” said Rahul. He also claimed the Chinese troops are still present in Doklam.

Taking on the BJP-led NDA Government in India, Rahul said while long speeches were being given and hatred was being generated, farmers continued to commit suicide and youngsters were unable to see a future for themselves.

“The Congress belongs to all, works for everyone and our work is to spread the thought of unity in diversity. Today, the Government in India is working differently,” he said. Rahul said India’s competition was with China and jobs would either go there or come here.