In London, Rahul Gandhi compares RSS to Muslim Brotherhood, as BJP fumes

Hours after Congress President Rahul Gandhi criticized RSS and drew a comparison between the right-wing organisation and the Muslim Brotherhood, which had started out in the 1920s as a politico-religious lobby but has since been banned as a terrorist organisation in a number of countries, the BJP has launched a scathing attack on the Congress president, asking him to apologize to the nation.

Rahul Gandhi was speaking in London, where he stated that RSS is trying to impose their ideology on the citizens of the country, and said that he and the Congress were fighting it. He alleged that the RSS was taking over institutions and structures in India and went on to compare it with the Muslim Brotherhood. Following his comments, BJP spokesperson Dr Sambit Patra held a press conference to lash out at him.

BJP'S REACTION

Dr Patra said, "The words, actions and ideology of Congress President Rahul Gandhi, who is an Indian politician, is a matter of concern. Rahul Ji, have you taken 'supari' (a coarse term for a contract-killing deal)? This is what we want to ask you. Have you taken 'supari' against Indian culture, thoughts and government that you are humiliating your own country on foreign soil? Today, whatever you have done is unthinkable and unforgivable.

"Today you (Rahul Gandhi) said the idea on which the present government is running is similar to the Muslim Brotherhood. How could you compare RSS, BJP to Muslim Brotherhood? You are a dignified member of parliament, President of Congress. When you speak as the leader of the opposition, the whole world listens. How could you compare the present government, which leads the country, to a terrorist organization? You have to answer the world", he added.

"You (Rahul Gandhi) may not know, may not have read that Muslim Brotherhood is an Islamic organization, which is considered terrorist organization in a number of countries. You are saying the institutions in India have a mindset like them."

He went on to raise the Congress party's 'Saffron terror' charge.

RSS' REACTION

Meanwhile, speaking to Republic TV, RSS senior functionary Manmohan Vaidya had brushed aside Rahul Gandhi's remarks, saying that the Congress president's credibility was at an all-time low. Regarding Rahul Gandhi fighting the RSS, Vaidya brought up how the former's predecessors had also tried but hadn't succeeded, and that they had been stronger than the current Congress president.

Rahul Gandhi has been on a controversy-creating spree during the three days of his visit to Europe. Speaking in Germany's Hamburg on Day 1, he had seemingly justified the creation of ISIS, generalised the entire issue of women's safety in India as a 'cultural issue', and put out a vision for India (that it would play a balancing act between the two real powers -- the US and China) that even underwhelmed an American journalist, who asked Rahul Gandhi whether he really saw India more as an 'honest broker'.