Speaking at the inauguration of the new INC headquarters in Delhi, Gandhi condemned Mohan Bhagwat's assertion that India had not achieved true independence in 1947, but rather when the Ram Temple was built.
Published Jan 15, 2025 | 6:27 PM ⚊ Updated Jan 15, 2025 | 6:27 PM
Rahul Gandhi addressing the audience at the Indian National Congress headquarters on Wednesday. (X)
Indian National Congress (INC) leader and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi launched a scathing attack on Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangha (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat on Wednesday, 15 January, terming the latter’s recent statements about India’s independence as ‘treason.’
Speaking at the inauguration of the new INC headquarters in Delhi, Gandhi condemned Bhagwat’s assertion that India had not achieved true independence in 1947, but rather when the Ram Temple was built.
Mohan Bhagwat’s audacious comment that India didn’t gain true independence in 1947 is an insult to our freedom fighters, every single Indian citizen and an attack on our Constitution. pic.twitter.com/6sMhdxn3xA
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) January 15, 2025
“Mohan Bhagawat has the audacity to inform the nation, every three or four days, what he thinks of the independence movement, what he thinks of the constitution. In fact, what he said yesterday is treason. He is stating that the constitution is invalid. He is stating that everything – the fight against the British was invalid. And he has the audacity to say this publicly,” the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha said.
“In any other country, he would be arrested and tried. That is a fact. To say that India did not get independence in 1947 is an insult to every single Indian person. And it is about time we stop listening to this nonsense that these people think they can keep parroting out and shouting and screaming.”
Gandhi’s remarks sparked immediate reaction from across the political aisle. Bizarrely, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Rajya Sabha member Lahar Singh Siroya claimed that Gandhi’s remarks confirmed that ‘Congress workers were fighting the Indian state.’
“By saying what Rahul Gandhi has said today, he has indirectly made every Congress worker a Naxalite or a Maoist or an Urban Naxal,” Siroya wrote on X.
“We shall have to now use Shri Siddaramaiah’s ‘generous’ Naxal package to bring them back to the mainstream. Recently, surrendered Naxals were treated like VIPs in the Karnataka CM’s office. More seriously, if the Congress party is fighting the Indian state then, should not all Congress state governments, whatever are left, be dismissed? How can they continue in government and fight the Indian state?”
Shri @RahulGandhi has come back from his foreign holiday and has said that @INCIndia is fighting the Indian state. We should thank him for confirming the suspicion. So far we thought only Naxalites were fighting the India state. By saying what Rahul Gandhi has said today, he has…
— Lahar Singh Siroya (@LaharSingh_MP) January 15, 2025
Meanwhile, Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy defended Gandhi’s stance.
“What Rahul Gandhi said pertains to ideological differences. The RSS did not fight for independence. Hence, it is not ready to embrace what India’s independence truly means. That is why they neither acknowledge nor praise independence. Mohan Bhagwat voiced their ideology,” Reddy told reporters in Delhi.
“That is why Rahul Gandhi remarked that they have nothing to do with independence. It was the Congress and its leaders who achieved independence, and they will strive to move the country forward. If whatever Mohan Bhagwat said was against the Constitution, there should be action taken against him.”
(Edited by Dese Gowda)
