Union Minister Shobha Karandlaje accused Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge of targeting the RSS under pressure from the Gandhi family.
Bengaluru
Union Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises and Labour and Employment Shobha Karandlaje has criticised Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge for his recent demand to ban the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), claiming that he made the statement under pressure from Sonia Gandhi and Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi.
Speaking to reporters at the BJP headquarters in Bengaluru on Saturday, Karandlaje said she respected Kharge as a senior politician with decades of experience at both state and national levels but asserted that he was no longer thinking independently. In his 50 years of political life, Mallikarjun Kharge had never spoken against the RSS. Now, after listening to Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, he is demanding a ban. Kharge ji, you must remember — what former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru could not do, what Indira Gandhi could not do — will you be able to do it? she remarked.
Continuing her sharp criticism, Karandlaje questioned the Congress leadership’s authority and intent. What powers do you or Rahul Gandhi possess? He is merely the Leader of the Opposition and is unable to discharge his duties effectively, she said. The Minister further pointed out that the Congress had ruled the nation for over five decades and that Kharge himself had served as a Union Minister during the UPA regime, yet had never previously spoken against the RSS.
Karandlaje’s remarks come amid renewed political tensions between the BJP and Congress over the latter’s criticism of the RSS. Her comments underscore the BJP’s stand that the Congress is attempting to politicize the RSS’s role, while the Congress maintains that the organisation wields undue influence over the ruling party’s governance.
