Why Rahul Gandhi is wrong in comparing RSS to the Muslim Brotherhood
What to make of several statements Rahul Gandhi, scion of Nehru/Gandhi clan, made during his recent trip to the UK and Germany? In one such gathering held at the International Institute of Strategic Studies in London (Aug 25, 2018), Rahul said, “RSS is trying to change the nature of India. There is no other organisation in India that wants to capture India’s institutions. RSS’ idea is similar to the idea of Muslim Brotherhood in Arab world.”
Speaking at Bucerius Summer School in Hamburg (Aug 22 , 2018), he again likened RSS to the Muslim Brotherhood. He alleged minorities are excluded from the development process and are getting alienated. This has created a space for insurgency in the country.
He also said, “When the US attacked Iraq in 2003, they introduced a law that did not allow one particular tribe from getting public jobs. It didn’t stop there and connected with the global Internet to form the horrific idea — ISIS.”
Bizarre theories
How do the bizarre theories floated by Rahul on foreign soil measure against facts? It was the Congress-led UPA government that had in 2013 hosted Mohammed Morsi, then Egyptian president and a key leader of the Brotherhood. Seven agreements were signed on the occasion. Later, Morsi was overthrown and his defence minister Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, became president. Morsi is now in jail
“The RSS is trying to change the nature of India,” the Congress chief had said in London. “It is similar to the idea that exists in the Arab world of the Muslim Brotherhood. The idea is that one ideology should run through every institution and one idea should crush all other ideas.”
Is it not that all well-meaning Indians want India to change and change for the better? An India sans corruption, crime, crony capitalism and nepotism. RSS may be obsessed with its ideology (nothing wrong in that) but is it not a fact that Congress during over five decades of its rule in independent India has refused to see beyond Nehru / Gandhi clan? Every second institution built and run by public funds is named after one family.
Comparing Muslim Brotherhood with RSS and BJP is ridiculous. While the Muslim Brotherhood is a declared terrorist organisation, RSS has a history of over 90 years of service to the country. Its volunteers have always been engaged in relief work during natural calamities.
RSS’ declared creed is Hindutva. The organisation represents India’s timeless inclusive ethos and Catholic outlook. RSS is against bigotry and is progressive in its attitude and believes in social justice. In spite of the Left-inspired venomous campaign spanning over more than half a century, RSS is a force to reckon with in India and abroad.
Rahul is right when he says a large number of Indian Muslims are alienated from the mainstream of the country. But this is true of several Christian majority countries of Europe and the US as well. Even in Islamic countries such as Pakistan and Afghanistan, large sections of Muslims are at war with the followers of other religions and also among themselves.
Over-simplification
The Muslim-dominated Kashmir valley has been at war with the rest of the country for long, irrespective of the party in power at the Centre. More Muslims are killed in Pakistan and Afghanistan by fellow Muslims than by non-Muslims in the entire world. What has all this to do with either BJP or RSS?
According to Rahul, ISIS came into being in 2004 because a particular group was denied jobs. It is over-simplification of a complex phenomenon. Nowhere in the world jobless go around beheading others and getting killed themselves in the process. These jihadis, as per their own claims, are motivated to kill and get killed, by Islamic theology.
Alienated politician?
Many Muslim-converts from Christianity in Europe have become terrorists. Then, what has it to do with development? Can there be anybody else more accommodative than the father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi? He bent backwards to accommodate Muslims in united India, but he failed to stop the Partition.
Do we take Rahul seriously? Not necessarily. After all, it was a desperate alienated politician talking to aliens.
(Courtesy of Mail Today)
Also read: Instead of dodging 1984, Congress should acknowledge the past