Rahul Gandhi Sparks Row By Saying Congress Is Fighting 'Indian State'

Senior Congress leader and Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi sparked a controversy on Wednesday (January 15) by saying that Congress party was now fighting the "Indian state". He was speaking during the inauguration of Congress' new party headquarters in New Delhi.

"Our ideology like the RSS ideology is thousands of years old and it has been fighting the RSS ideology for thousands of years. Do not think that we are fighting a fair fight. There is no fairness in this. If you believe that we are fighting a political organisation called the BJP or RSS, you have not understood what is going on. The BJP and the RSS have captured every single institution of our country. We are now fighting the BJP, the RSS and the Indian State itself," he said.

BJP has reacted sharply on Rahul Gandhi's statement. BJP President Jagat Prakash Nadda said that it was now out in the open that Congress was out to weaken India.

During the same speech, Rahul Gandhi took on Rashtriya Sawayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat's statement that India got 'true independence' when Ram Mandir was consecrated in Ayodhya last year.

“Mohan Bhagwat has the audacity to inform the nation every 2-3 days what he thinks about the independent movement, Constitution. What he said yesterday is treason because it states that the Constitution is invalid, and the fight against the British was invalid. He has the audacity to say this publicly, in any other country, he would be arrested and tried,” said Rahul Gandhi.