Rahul Gandhi on activists' arrest: Only one ideology "based on Nagpur" respected by BJP

After his "new India" barb targeting the RSS, Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday accused the BJP of respecting only one ideology "based on Nagpur", a veiled reference to the saffron fountainhead, and said the opposition was united in fighting the "undemocratic" actions.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi. (PTI)

NEW DELHI: After his "new India" barb targeting the RSS, Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday accused the BJP of respecting only one ideology "based on Nagpur", a veiled reference to the saffron fountainhead, and said the opposition was united in fighting the "undemocratic" actions. Hitting out at the government over the arrest of prominent Left-wing activists for suspected Maoist links, Gandhi had on Tuesday tweeted that in the "new India", there was place for only one NGO -- the RSS. In a brief interaction with media during his visit to flood-hit areas, the Congress chief on Wednesday dubbed as 'undemocratic' 'certain' actions taken at the national level, apparently referring to the arrests of the activists. "I think there are certain action that has been taken at national level which are undemocratic and we are fighting that battle. The opposition is united in fighting that battle," he said. Gandhi said there were two different visions of India -- one was centralised and the other decentralised. "One respects only one ideology based on Nagpur and the other respects all the different states, all the different ideas, all the different cultures and all the different people of this country. That fight is on and I assure you that we are fighting that battle," Gandhi said. The Maharashtra Police had on Tuesday raided the homes of prominent Left-wing activists in several states and arrested at least five of them. This was as part of a probe into the violence between Dalits and the upper caste Peshwas at Koregaon-Bhima village near Pune after an event called Elgar Parishad, or conclave, on December 31 last year. "There is only place for one NGO in India and it's called the RSS. Shut down all other NGOs. Jail all activists and shoot those that complain. Welcome to the new India," Gandhi had said in his tweet on Tuesday with the hashtag Bhima Koregaon. He was reacting to the arrests of prominent Telugu poet Varavara Rao in Hyderabad, activists Vernon Gonzalves and Arun Farreira in Mumbai, trade union activist Sudha Bhardwaj in Faridabad, and civil liberties activist Gautam Navalakha in New Delhi. The arrests have drawn condemnation from several opposition leaders and people from different walks of life, with some of them terming it as a "manifestation of autocracy".