Congress leader Pawan Khera on Sunday sharply criticised his party colleague Digvijaya Singh for praising the organisational strength of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), saying there is nothing Congress can learn from the Sangh. “There’s nothing to learn from the RSS. What can an organisation known for Godse teach an organisation founded by Gandhi?” Khera said, referring to Nathuram Godse, the assassin of Mahatma Gandhi. Senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid also echoed the sentiment, saying, “We don’t have anything to learn from them. We oppose their ideology.”
The controversy began after Digvijaya Singh shared an old photograph from the 1990s showing a young Prime Minister Narendra Modi seated on the floor next to senior BJP leader LK Advani at an event in Gujarat. Singh praised the BJP-RSS structure, saying it allowed grassroots workers to rise to top positions like Chief Minister and Prime Minister. In a post on X, he wrote, “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 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.”
Singh later clarified that his remarks were about organisational capacity and not ideology. “I am opposed to the ideology of the RSS. They neither respect the Constitution nor the country’s laws, and it is an unregistered organisation. But I admire their organisational capacity,” he told ANI. He also pointed out that the Congress party has room for improvement in converting its movement-based approach into votes, adding, “Every organisation should always have room for improvement.”
The remarks have sparked a debate within Congress, raising questions about unity in the party’s senior leadership. BJP leaders, meanwhile, targeted Congress, claiming the controversy exposes how the party is run in a “dictatorial and autocratic” manner. CR Kesavan of the BJP said Singh’s post “totally exposed how the Congress first family ruthlessly runs the party and how undemocratic its leadership is.”
