Congress MP Rahul Gandhi continued his blazing attack on the Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh (RSS), accusing them of 'attacking India's Tapasaya'. Gandhi also compared the RSS to the 'Kauravas' from the Mahabharata.


Addressing a public meeting after the Bharat Jodo Yatra led by him reached Ambala district Monday evening, Gandhi said Haryana is the land of the Mahabharata and went on to take a dig at the RSS and the ruling dispensation. "Kauravas of the 21st century wear khaki half-pant and run 'shakhas'. Beside them, stand the country's two to three richest people," Gandhi said.


"Who were the Kauravas? I will first tell you about the 21st century Kauravas, they wear khakhi half-pants, they carry lathi in hand and hold shakhas.... India's 2-3 billionaires are standing with the Kauravas," he said. ""Did the Pandavas do demonetisation, implement wrong GST? Would they have ever done so? Never. Why? Because they were tapasvis and they knew that demonetisation, wrong GST, farm laws are a way to steal from tapasvis of this land.... (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi did sign on these decisions, but the power of India's 2-3 billionaires were behind it, whether you agree or not," Gandhi said.


Gandhi further said: "RSS people never chant 'Har Har Mahadev' because Lord Shiva was a 'Tapasavi' & these people are attacking India's 'Tapasaya'. They have removed Goddess Sita from 'Jai Siya Ram'. These people are working against India's culture."


"On one hand there were these five tapasvis and on the other hand there was a crowded organisation. With the Pandavas, there were people of all religions. Like this (Bharat Jodo) Yatra, nobody asks anyone from where he comes. It is a shop of love. The Pandavas had also stood against injustice, they too had opened shop of love in the market of hate," Gandhi added.


Rahul Gandhi performed aarti at Brahma Sarovar in Kurukshetra on the sidelines of his ongoing Bharat Jodo Yatra in Haryana on Sunday. Gandhi said the foot march is against hatred and fear that is being spread in society as well as unemployment and inflation.


“We are seeing it as "tapasya", Rahul said referring to the yatra as a mark of austerity and self-meditation.


“One thing which I have understood is that this fight is actually not political, superficially it is political fight. When we fight BSP or TRS, then it is a political contest. But there has been change in the country,” he said.


“The day when the RSS controlled the institutions of this country, the fight did not remain political. Now, this has become a different fight. You may call it a fight of ideology, or a fight for righteousness. You can give it any framework, but this is not a political fight,” Gandhi said.


The Bharat Jodo Yatra, led by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, has so far covered Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, and is currently in Haryana.


The Bharat Jodo Yatra, which kicked off from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu on September 7, will end with Rahul Gandhi hoisting the national flag in Srinagar on January 30.


 


(With inputs from PTI.)