Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday lashed out at the ruling BJP and its ideological mentor RSS and accused the Narendra Modi government of using its brand of discipline to "kill individuality" among Indians.
"Have you seen an RSS shakha? Everyone stands in a straight line. If someone utters anything, he is silenced with a lathi," Gandhi said in a short but power-packed speech in Hindi at a convention here of the National Students' Union of India. "Discipline is an excuse for them to murder individuality. They are attempting to silence the lakhs of voices in India with this excuse of discipline. They want to kill individuality in India," he said. Gandhi, who was clad in a white kurta and blue jeans, compared the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's 'dhwaj pranam' (flag salutation) to the Nazi salute. "I don't know how they salute with their hands, but it is similar to how they saluted in Germany. I would never do it," Gandhi said, in an obvious comparison of the RSS with the Nazis. Gandhi said the Congress, on the other hand, respected individuality. "Yesterday (on Wednesday), Manmohan Singh-ji said the state of the country's economy was bad, following which the prime minister (Modi) took classes from our prime minister (Manmohan Singh) for an hour on how to revive the economy," Gandhi said. He also accused Modi of failing to take care of the country's farmers.
Reacting to Gandhi's tirade, the BJP said his comments showed his "immaturity and foolishness". "The party, which is run by only three members of a family, has no right to give us lessons on democracy," BJP spokesperson G.V.L. Narsimha Rao told media.
