New Delhi: Congress MP Manickam Tagore on Sunday criticised Digvijaya Singh’s praise for the RSS’s organisational strength, calling it a “famous self-goal”.
Speaking to ANI, Tagore equated the RSS with Al-Qaeda, stating that both spread hatred and emphasising that the Congress party, with its 140-year history, should be the model for unity and a people’s movement, citing Mahatma Gandhi’s transformation of the party.
“The RSS is an organisation built on hatred, and it spreads hatred. There is nothing to learn from hatred. Can you learn anything from Al-Qaeda? Al-Qaeda is an organisation of hatred. It hates others. What is there to learn from that organisation?” Manickam Tagore told ANI.
This comes after Digvijaya Singh shared a black-and-white photograph from the 1990s, found on social question-and-answer website Quora, showing a young Narendra Modi seated on the floor near senior BJP leader LK Advani at an event in Gujarat.
In a post shared on X, Singh noted that individuals who once worked at the grassroots level could rise through the organisational hierarchy to become Chief Minister and eventually Prime Minister. He described this as the “power of organisation”, while tagging senior Congress leaders, including party president Mallikarjun Kharge, MPs Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Jairam Ramesh, PM Modi, and the official handles of the Congress.
“I found this picture on the Quora site. It is very impressive. In what way did the grassroots swayamsevak of RSS and the worker of Jan Sangh @BJP4India sit on the floor at the feet of leaders and become the Chief Minister of the state and the Prime Minister of the country? This is the power of the organisation. Jai Siya Ram. @INCIndia @INCMP@kharge @RahulGandhi @priyankagandhi @Jairam_Ramesh @narendramodi,” Singh’s X post read.
Manickam Tagore said that one should learn from an organisation like the Congress, which brought people together.
“Mahatma Gandhi transformed the Congress party into a people’s movement. Should this organisation learn from those organisations of hatred?” he said.
Manickam Tagore further said that Digvijaya Singh’s statement “does not help” in Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi’s struggle against the Central Government.
“Rahul Gandhi is completely with people, fighting for people against government monopoly. We should support him, and such a statement does not help in Rahul ji’s struggle,” he said.
Earlier, Manickam Tagore shared an ‘excellent’ own goal in a football match, writing, “Famous Self goal. We have one.”
Later, he added that there is “nothing to learn from Godse’s organisation other than Hate. Congress at 140 is still young, and fights hate.”
Digvijaya Singh later clarified that he had praised only the RSS’s organisational structure, not its ideology, and that he remains opposed to the RSS and PM Modi.
BJP slams Manickam Tagore’s remark
Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla took strong exception to Tagore’s remark and said “Congress has now gone berserk in its thirst for vote-bank politics.”
“After insulting Hindu, Sanatan, Sena, Bharat, now they are targeting a nationalistic organisation also… In an organisation that has been working for the last 100 years for national dedication and national service, they are saying that these are terrorists, but they have nothing to say about the atrocities against Hindus in Bangladesh. They have placed votebank politics above everything else,” Poonawalla said.
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