Links between RSS and terrorists need to be probed: Congress

Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during the 83rd Plenary Session of the party, in New Delhi, on Sunday. Photo: PTI

The idea of India — that is democracy — faces its most serious challenge from the Bharatiya Janata Party and it was intent not just on shredding the secular fabric of the nation, but also on destroying the democratic institutions, the Congress alleged here on Sunday.

Stung by the onslaught against it through the recently concluded winter session of Parliament, the Congress unleashed its fury on the BJP.

Both in a political resolution as well as in speeches by senior leaders and delegates alike, the message that went out from Burari on Sunday, the second day of the organisation's 83rd plenary — coinciding with its 125th anniversary — was that the Congress meant business and that it was going to be a bare knuckles battle from now on.

Indeed, the political resolution, passed after discussion, asked the government to tackle the communal menace in the strongest possible manner and investigate links between terrorists and the RSS and its sister organisations that were uncovered in some recent cases. “The role of religious fundamentalist organisations in challenging the security of the nation can no longer be ignored,” it said.

Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who moved the political resolution, focussed on the “illogical” fashion the BJP stalled Parliament for 22 consecutive working days, demanding a joint parliamentary committee probe into the 2G spectrum scam while avoiding a debate on the floor.

Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh, however, was clearly the star of the day. He said the BJP's and the RSS' Hitlerian ideology of hatred, violence and divisiveness contrasted sharply with that of the Congress, which took its inspiration from Mahatma Gandhi's gospel of love and communal harmony.

Arjun Singh-like, he concentrated on the communal politics of the BJP and the sangh parivar, drawing applause and laughter from the delegates. He said those of a communal bent of mind, while agreeing that all Muslims were not terrorists, liked to ask: “Why are all terrorists Muslims?” To those people, he said, he would like to pose a counter-question: “All Hindus are not terrorists, but why are all Hindu terrorists connected to the RSS?”

The political resolution pointed out that the BJP had “a history of double standards and doublespeak on issues of serious corruption. While trying to target the Congress, which had sacked some of its Ministers accused of corruption, the BJP was busy defending its corrupt government in Karnataka, the resolution said.