Counter BJP, RSS with love, says Rahul Gandhi

New Delhi: Launching a scathing attack on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Congress president Rahul Gandhi accused the organisation of wielding lathis and spreading hatred.

At a meeting of Congress Seva Dal in Ajmer, Mr Gandhi asked Congress workers to counter the “hatred” spread by the Bharatya Janata Party (BJP) and its ideological fountainhead RSS with love. “RSS and BJP spread hate. They wear half pants, wield lathis while we work with love. This is the basic difference”.

He also accused the RSS of creating unrest in the Northeast.

Training his guns at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Congress president said: “He runs the country for a select group of 15-20 people”.

For Mr Modi, India is a “product” and he wants to divide its benefits among his “15-20 friends”, but for the Congress, it is like a sea which has space for all, he said.

“Modi gives tall speeches, says nothing happened (in the country) in the past 70 years. That means Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar (Vallabhbhai) Patel, Jawa-harlal Nehru, (B.R.) Amb-edkar and all chief ministers, people of the country, farmers, labours and sm-all traders did nothing. It is an insult to every citizen,” he added.

He that when he hugged the Prime Minister in Parliament, Mr Modi had only hate for him. “Modi says unwarranted things about me, my family and (he) insults the entire Congress, saying that he will finish the Congress but the Congress president hugged him in Parliament. Hate can be defeated only by love. When I hugged him, I had no hate for him but he had hate and I saw on his face. He could not handle that,” Mr Gandhi said.

He added, “We will defeat them, we will not finish them, will not murder them, will not beat them, but will defeat and that too with love.”