NEW DELHI — Reacting strongly to Congress leader Digvijaya Singh’s remarks praising the organisational strength of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Congress MP Manickam Tagore on Sunday launched a scathing attack on the RSS, asserting that the Congress has nothing to learn from a hate-driven organisation.
Responding to the controversy, Tagore said, “The RSS is an organisation of hatred. It spreads hatred, breeds hatred and carries out propaganda based on hate. There is nothing to learn from the RSS.”
Drawing a sharp comparison, the Congress MP added, “In the way al-Qaeda operates through bloodshed, the RSS too does the same work inside the country—spreading hatred.”
Tagore went on to underline the Congress party’s mass connect, saying, “Congress is a people’s party, a grounded party. From village to village, people are connected with our party. Congress does not need to learn anything from the RSS.”
His remarks come amid a political storm triggered by Digvijaya Singh’s social media post in which the senior Congress leader praised the BJP and its ideological parent RSS for their organisational strength. Singh had shared an old black-and-white photograph of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with BJP veteran Lal Krishna Advani on platform X, describing it as impactful.
In his post written in Hindi, Singh said the photograph demonstrated how an RSS grassroots volunteer and a Jan Sangh/BJP worker, who once sat at the feet of senior leaders, could rise to become a state’s chief minister and eventually the prime minister of the country. “This is the power of organisation,” Singh wrote, referring to the image that shows Modi, Advani and several others at a public rally.
Earlier in the day, Singh’s remarks drew sharp criticism from the BJP, with senior leader Ravi Shankar Prasad mocking the Congress leadership and claiming the comments reflected a delayed acknowledgement of the BJP’s organisational strength. At the same time, reactions within the Congress remained divided, with some leaders defending Singh’s right to acknowledge organisational efficiency while firmly rejecting the RSS ideology.
Manickam Tagore’s statement, however, marked one of the strongest rebuttals from within the Congress, clearly distancing the party from any perceived praise of the RSS, by one of its veteran leaders. –IANS
