Congress leader Digvijay Singh. (file)
Digital Desk, New Delhi. The tweet of senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh, who cited the organizational strength of RSS and talked about strengthening the Congress organization at the grassroots level, has intensified the debate in political circles. Congress MP Shashi Tharoor and senior party leader Salman Khurshid have supported Digvijay Singh's views, while BJP has raised questions on the Congress leadership and the internal situation of the party.
Even within the Congress, different voices were heard regarding this statement, although the party leaders tried to give a message of unity. In fact, on Saturday, just before the Congress Working Committee meeting, Digvijay Singh had shared an old picture of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the internet media platform 'X'.
In this post, while referring to the organizational strength of RSS-BJP, he had said that how a grassroots worker learns by sitting at the feet of his leaders and later becomes the Chief Minister and then the Prime Minister. In this context, he also stressed the need to strengthen the Congress organization at the grassroots level and said that this is very important in the fight to oust the BJP from power.
After this tweet surfaced, sharp reactions were seen in political circles. Amidst the criticism, on Sunday Digvijay Singh defended his statement and made it clear that he had only talked about the organizational structure of RSS and not its ideology.
He said, "I have said what I had to say. I oppose the RSS and Prime Minister Modi, but it has to be acknowledged that their organization is strong." Digvijay also made it clear that the Congress is completely united and BJP's efforts to create division in the party over his statement will fail.
He accused BJP of adopting the policy of 'divide and rule'. He claimed that there is a fundamental difference between his ideology and that of RSS-BJP and this conflict will continue in future also. According to him, every organization has to strengthen itself by introspecting from time to time. Congress MP Shashi Tharoor gave a balanced reaction to this entire controversy.
He said that there is no doubt that the organization should be strengthened. According to Tharoor, discipline and strength at the grassroots level are necessary for any political party. He asked to see Digvijay's statement in this context. Senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid also supported Digvijay Singh and said that it is very important to understand the terminology and context of his statement.
Khurshid said that it is impossible to even think that Digvijay Singh will say anything against the interests of Congress or the country. Talking to the media, he said that Digvijay has expressed his views in very simple words and the basic objective of his statement is to strengthen the Congress and the country. However, during this period, Khurshid also made a sharp attack on the ideology of RSS.
Giving the example of the film Sholay, he said that just as an atmosphere of fear was created in the name of Gabbar Singh, in the same way society should not be run through fear or terror. He said that even a dacoit can be strong, but it does not mean that we should teach our children to become dacoits.
Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinet alleged that the BJP was distorting the spirit of Digvijay's post. He said that Congress does not need to learn anything from RSS. Congress leader Rajiv Shukla termed the controversy as unnecessary and said that Digvijay Singh is completely dedicated to the party and his statement is being blown out of proportion unnecessarily.
BJP raised questions on timing
BJP used this issue to attack Congress. BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad said that Digvijay Singh has accepted after a long time that the BJP organization is strong.
He took a dig at the Congress leadership and raised questions on Rahul Gandhi's role and effectiveness within the party. Telangana BJP President N. Ramchander Rao also asked why Digvijay Singh made such a public tweet regarding the internal matters of Congress.
(With inputs from news agency PTI)