After Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday parroted the ‘RSS ideology’ excuse when asked about the India-Pakistan relationship, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi soon followed suit to malign the Hindu organization, parroting Pakistan’s line as usual.
Here’s what happened
Khan who is in Tashkent for the Central-South Asia conference was asked by an ANI reporter if “talks and terror could go hand in hand”. To this Khan replied, “We can tell India that we (Pakistan) have been waiting for a long time to coexist as civilised neighbours…but what to do? the ideology of RSS has come in between.”
https://twitter.com/ANI/status/1415958511268220929?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwKhan repeated the usual rant, ignoring that It is Pakistan’s open sponsoring of Islamic terrorists aganst India that prevents ‘talks’ between the two nations. However, when the reporter counter-questioned Khan about his government’s links withb Taliban and Pakistan’s failure to keep the Taliban in control, he was quick to evade the ‘out of syllabus’ query.
It is notable here that the Modi government had made it clear to Imran Khan’s government in Pakistan that there will be no bilateral dialogues as long as Pakistan continues to sponsor terrorism against India and allows anti-India terrorists to use Pakistani resources.
After Imran Khan, Rahul Gandhi repeats the same ‘RSS ideology’ rant
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi while addressing the members of the party during a meeting emphasized the need for inducting fearless partymen who rejected the ‘RSS ideology.’
“There’re many fearless people, who are not in Congress. They should be brought in & the Congressmen who are afraid of (BJP) should be shown the exit door. We don’t need those who believe in RSS ideology. We need fearless people,” he said, hinting about inducting ex-BJP leaders.
https://twitter.com/ANI/status/1415984624237375491?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwGandhi in his speech also confessed that some Congressmen are ‘BJP-fearing’, thus advising the party to get rid of them.
Imran Khan and Rahul Gandhi’s Congress keep parroting each other’s statements
Well, this is absolutely not the first time that Khan has used RSS as a shield to deflect questions on Pakistan-sponsored terrorism in India. Additionally, Khan with his ‘RSS is responsible for ___’ script has managed to blame the Seva organization, Bhartiya Janta Party and the Hindu community for everything under the blue sky.
Khan managed to pin the blame of the Delhi anti-CAA riots and farmers’ protest on the RSS/BJP ideology apart from regular complaining about the ‘condition of minorities’ in India.
Just like Imran Khan, it wasn’t the first time that Rahul Gandhi gave an anti-RSS statement. As a matter of fact, all of Gandhi’s recent interviews and public addresses have centered around bashing and maligning the organization and the Hindutva ideology.
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat in 2020 had mocked Sangh critics by saying that they attack the RSS when their negative campaigns do not succeed. “Now even Imran Khan has learnt this mantra,” Bhagwat had said in his remarks.
It is notable here that Imran Khan’s party and Rahul Gandhi’s party have been picking ideas from each other and repeating statements of each other. We at OpIndia had even prepared a list of the instances where they just parroted each other.
In 2019, Pakistan’s anti-India dossier to the UNHRC featured former Congress President Rahul Gandhi and other opposition leaders. The dossier had quoted remarks made by Rahul Gandhi in the aftermath of India’s decision to abrogate Article 370 for Jammu and Kashmir where he had taken to Twitter to castigate Jammu and Kashmir authorities and had cast doubts on the Indian government.
Rahul Gandhi’s and Congress’ political statements against the Modi government have been used multiple times by the Pakistani establishment to target India. Pakistani politicians love quoting Rahul Gandhi. They even use his and his party’s statements to validate their rantings against India on international platforms.
In 2019, Pakistan’s national radio had used Rahul Gandhi and other opposition leaders’ statements over the Balakot surgical strike to peddle lies against India.