BJP's 'mothership' RSS wants to control all institutions: Rahul

Bhubaneswar: Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Friday targeted the RSS, alleging that the BJP's "mothership" was trying to penetrate and control all institutions and its imprint was evident everywhere be it "North Block and the South Block", which has led to chaos in the country including the judiciary.

During an interaction with intellectuals as part of the Congress' outreach efforts ahead of Lok Sabha polls, Gandhi said unlike the BJP, his party "respects decentralisation, independence of institutions and constitutional advances".

He said their fight was against the ideology that "one state, one ideology and one set of people should run the country" and stressed that the nation should be driven by its 1.2 billion people.

He criticised the Modi government over the issue of loan waiver to industrialists, implementation of GST and MGNREGA and Ayushman Bharat health insurance scheme.

Gandhi said he takes "constant abuse" by the RSS and BJP as a "gift" which has strengthened him as he has learnt a lot from them. He said he will recommend that Prime Minister Narendra Modi read "the Gita (holy book) a couple of times. I also recommend him to read the book 'I am That' by Swami Nisargadatta." The book teaches you how insignificant you are when compared to the universe, Gandhi said.

"You currently have one institution called the RSS, mothership of the BJP, which believes it should be the only institution in the country. They want to penetrate into all other institutions and control them," he said.

This mindset has led to chaos everywhere in the country, including areas of judiciary and education, Gandhi said.

"You can see these imprints of RSS if you go to North Block and South Block. We simply believe that one state, one ideology, one set of people should not run this country. We believe that 1.2 billion people should run this country. We defend this," Gandhi said.

The Congress leader also said his party has a view different from the ruling BJP when it comes to functioning of key institutions.

"We believe that there is a link between India's success, India's constitution, advancement and institutional independence. So very simply, we respect institutions like judiciary, Election Commission of India, educational system and universities...." Congress chief said.