Mumbai: Congress MP Rahul Gandhi hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party and its ideological mentor, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, declaring neither “have nothing to do with Hinduism” and that “there is nothing Hindu about what the BJP does…”.
RahulGandhi was at an event in France, when he said, “I have read the Gita, a number of the Upanishads and many Hindu books… absolutely nothing Hindu about it (the BJP)… ”
“I have not read anywhere in any Hindu book, or heard from any learned Hindu person, that you should terrorise or harm people weaker than you. This idea… this word – ‘Hindu nationalist’ – this is a wrong word. They are not ‘Hindu nationalists’… they have nothing to do with Hinduism,” he emphasised.
Interacting with students at Paris’ Sciences PO University, he ripped into the government, which has been widely criticised for suppressing opposition leaders’ voices within the country, accusing them of being “out to gain power at any cost”.
Rahul Gandhi’s comments came after a question about the “scary radicalisation of youth by Hindutva forces”. This is not the first time he has attacked the BJP on this topic. In 2021, he called them “fake Hindus” who “use” religion for their benefit.
The jabs invited a predictably furious response with BJP Lok Sabha MP Tejasvi Surya taunting his rival for “crying… while Bharat achieves global consensus” – a reference to the “100 per cent” declaration from the weekend’s G20 meet.