Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera accused the RSS of ‘remaining silent when they should have spoken up.
In its initial response to senior RSS member Indresh Kumar’s criticism of both the ruling BJP and the Congress-led opposition INDIA bloc, the Congress party stated on Friday that the RSS “should not be taken seriously.”
“Who takes the RSS seriously? PM Modi does not take them seriously, so why should we? If Indresh Kumar had spoken when it was time to speak, everyone would have taken him seriously. At that time, the RSS remained silent. They also enjoyed the power,” Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera asserted at a press conference.
Commenting on the results of the recent Lok Sabha elections, Kumar, a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh leader, on Thursday criticized the BJP for its ‘arrogance’ and the INDIA bloc for being ‘anti-Ram.’
Though Kumar, in his speech at an event in Jaipur, did not take any names, it was clear who he was referring to, as he mentioned the number of Lok Sabha seats won by each side.
“The party which did ‘bhakti’ but became arrogant was stopped at 241 (240), but it became the biggest party. And those who had no faith in Lord Ram were stopped at 234,” the RSS national executive member stated.
The seven-phase general elections, which began on April 19 and concluded on June 1, resulted in the Bharatiya Janata Party forming its third straight government at the Centre, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi winning a third consecutive term in the country’s top post. However, the saffron party failed to secure what would have been its third successive single-party majority and is in power with its National Democratic Alliance partners; together, the NDA has 293 representatives in the 543-member Lok Sabha.
The Congress, on the other hand, came second with 99 seats.
Kumar’s statement comes amid an alleged rift between the BJP and RSS, the JP Nadda-led outfit’s ideological mentor.
