Vaidik-Haifiz meet: Rahul Gandhi leads Congress attack on RSS

New Delhi: Was it by chance that Rahul Gandhi walked out of the main gate of Parliament rather than gate no 4 from where he usually enters and leaves Parliament on 15 June? Or was it a part of a planned setup to ensure that the Gandhi scion can drive home his point with a bang?

While he walked towards his SPG team, he was asked by journalists about journalist Ved Pratap Vaidik meeting 26/11 Mumbai mastermind Hafiz Saeed on 2 July earlier this month. “He is an RSS man. That’s a known fact,” Gandhi said. “The question is did the Indian embassy facilitate him (Vaidik) or not. We are curious to find out,” he said before he sped off.

That move by the Congress vice-president was the cue for the Congress party to go hammer and tongs against the saffron brigade. While the government insists it had nothing to do with the meeting, the Opposition is refusing to buy the argument. Rahul is believed to have pushed senior leaders into cornering the NDA on this issue.

“This is a very serious issue with regard to national security. The PMO is directly involved in it,” claims Shakeel Ahmad, national spokesperson for the Congress. “Vaidik is from the same Vivekananda International Foundation, whose three members Nripendra Misra, PK Mishra and Ajit Doval are working for the Modi government as Principal Secretary, Additional Principal Secretary in PMO and as National Security Advisor (NSA) respectively,” he said as his party launched a direct attack on BJP-RSS links.

The party is now focusing on the fringe right wing groups as their target before training their guns against the Nagpur-based RSS. But the BJP has been quick to nip any controversy in the bud, be it Sri Ram Sene’s Pramod Muthalik’s entry into the BJP to a Goa minister sending a clear warning against the pub culture.

However the Congress has its own share of problems to deal with. “That Modi wave swept most parts of the country cannot be ignored. The euphoria of Hindutva is still in the air. Added to this is the fact that no one is in the mood to listen to the Congress narrative yet,” noted V Mathew, Political Researcher and Executive Director Centre for Market Research and Social Development (CMSD).

“The Congress is hoping to use the fringe right-wing rhetoric to its advantage by taking them head on,” he adds.

Meanwhile, the right-wing groups keep making the odd statement that leads to controversy, the latest being that of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) convenor Ashok Singhal who has termed Modi’s win as a “setback to Muslim politics”. The BJP had attacked the UPA on every issue possible, from price rise to minority appeasement. With the new government almost towing the UPA’s economic line, the Congress has had to rework its strategy towards the saffron hardliners. The issues still remain the same, only the tables have turned.

“Such statements from the Sangh Parivar show that they believe minorities in India should be second class citizens,” says Manish Tewari, Former Union Minister. “They are laying the foundations of turning India into a fascist state,” he added.

There is a general feeling within the Congress camp that they will have to keep pace with the BJP’s rhetoric and yet keep calling their bluff at the same time. So far the Bajrang Dal has been keeping a low profile and there is keen interest as to how the Gujarat government will handle the Maya Kodnani case. She is the only former state minister convicted for her alleged role in the 2002 riots in Ahmedabad.

Investigations by NIA into the alleged role of right wing terror groups will also be on the Congress party’s scanner. “Our party may have only 44 MPs, but we will ensure that Modi government is on its toes 24/7,” says Jitin Prasada, former Union Minister and a close Rahul Gandhi aide. “Congress will fight for justice and we will not let the BJP indulge in politics of hate and polarisation,” he adds.

A magisterial court in Maharashtra’s, Bhiwandi district has already issued summons to Rahul Gandhi for him to appear before October 7 in connection with his defamatory speech against RSS that was allegedly made during Lok Sabha elections.

He went on to attack the RSS in Modi’s home state of Gujarat during the election campaign. “He spent his entire life in RSS and has nothing to do with the ideology of Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel. It’s that (RSS’) ideology that killed the Mahatma and Patel proposed to ban it after that,” Rahul had said at a rally in Bardoli, on 7 February. That sums up what Rahul Gandhi intends to do, wait patiently for these right wing groups to make the mistake and then move in for the kill.