JAIPUR: Former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Tuesday said the RSS should be grateful to the Congress as it has reached its present position due to his party’s “soft approach” and claimed the country has effectively become a “Hindu Rashtra under the BJP-RSS rule” with only a formal announcement remaining.
Talking to reporters in Jaipur, Gehlot attacked the BJP and the RSS, saying that if the Congress had acted with vendetta when it was in power, as he alleged the BJP does today, neither the RSS nor the BJP would have been able to grow.
“They should thank the Congress party that the RSS has reached where it is today. If the Congress’s approach had been like that of the RSS and the BJP, or if the same approach that is being adopted in the country today had been followed by the Congress governments, the RSS would not have been able to grow at all,” he said.
The senior Congress leader said that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) was banned twice and the ban was later lifted because an apology was made.
“The reason RSS has completed 100 years is because of the Congress’s soft approach,” he said.
Gehlot claimed that minorities were facing pressure and cited incidents of violence during religious occasions.
He also said that the country has “effectively become a Hindu Rashtra; only a formal declaration is remaining”.
“Other religions are being suppressed. Minorities are being targeted, whether Muslims, Christians or Sikhs. Even during Christmas, there have been incidents of hooliganism. First Muslims are targeted, then Christians, and later others may be affected. Even Jains and Parsis should understand what is happening,” he alleged.
He said that the BJP should respond to questions about the construction of its large buildings and party offices across the country and the source of funds for them.
He said everyone should be allowed to follow their respective faiths, “but attempts are being made deliberately to provoke tensions which is not in the national interest”.
“If tension is created in the country, and people in other nations get provoked, who does it benefit? They should correct their mistakes, move ahead, and say that they will now follow a secular approach.
“In a democracy, ideologies can be changed, especially when they have been elected three times. They should rethink their approach,” he added.
Referring to his recent remarks that former prime minister Indira Gandhi would have banned organisations engaging in activities detrimental to democracy, Gehlot said the debate generated by the statement reflected public concern over the current political situation.
“I am speaking from my experience. If a strong leader like Indira Gandhi had witnessed such developments, she would have acted firmly. We are seeing political parties breaking apart and an atmosphere of fear being created,” he said.
He said that people have taken the statement seriously and understood the gravity of the present political situation.
“Had a leader like Indira Gandhi been in power today, she would have banned a party like the BJP. You cannot run a political party on the basis of Hindutva and religion. The Constitution does not permit politics in the name of religion,” Gehlot had said at an event in Jaipur on Sunday.
The BJP had hit back, alleging that the opposition party still suffers from an “Emergency mindset” and poses a threat to democracy.
PTI