Rahul Gandhi likens RSS to Muslim Brotherhood: Congress defends party chief's views, says remarks taken out of context

New Delhi: The Congress on Friday sought to defend party chief Rahul Gandhi over his remarks likening the RSS to Islamist group Muslim Brotherhood , saying the comments had been distorted and should not be viewed in isolation.

Gandhi had come under fire from the BJP over his remarks which he made during his tour of the UK and Germany. Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said what the party chief had said is true about jobs and Doka La, but his remarks on Islamic State have been “distorted”. [caption id=“attachment_5024081” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Congress president Rahul Gandhi. PTI[/caption] “Rahul Gandhi was talking about extreme views and vision, in which he cited many examples including that of exclusion of women. I do not feel anything wrong in this statement, as it cites one of the extreme views of the RSS like many organisations of other religions have. “If you take one sentence out of context and distort it, then definitely it will be distorted,” he told reporters. Singhvi said Gandhi has in a systematic manner criticised the policies of the government and that is his right as an Opposition leader. “Can it be forgotten that Narendra Modi, in the first six months of his becoming the prime minister had used offensive language abroad, lowering the country’s image,” he said. He said the biggest fear of Modi and the BJP is that if all parties in every corner of the country form an alliance then the saffron party will be defeated. “There is an anti-BJP wave all over the country,” he claimed. On Gandhi’s remarks about External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, he alleged, “This government is indulging in micro-management and has dictatorial tendencies. It wants to control everything and that is what has happened with the External Affairs Ministry.” “Anybody here can tell me Doklam (Doka La), any inch of territory area occupied by Chinese has been vacated. I am challenging you and the government to it. “Just a few weeks ago, we had a report that despite the meetings between the Chinese and the defence minister, the Chinese have not moved anywhere, so what wrong he thinks,” he said.