Kharge eyes Muslim votes

By launching a fresh attack on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in the midst of the Bihar campaign, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge appears to be working towards the consolidation of Muslim votes on one hand, and playing the secular card on the other.

- PANKAJ VOHRA

The problem is that the current Congress leadership has repeatedly failed to understand that it should try and distinguish, politically at least, between the RSS and the BJP. Yes, the BJP draws its strength from the RSS, but the Sangh has, in the past, supported the Congress on multiple occasions and it is therefore politically naïve to drag it in the electoral battles.

Kharge’s comments were in context of praise being heaped on Sardar Patel by the BJP on his birth anniversary on Friday wherein he recalled that the former Home Minister had banned the RSS following the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi in 1948. He went on to criticise the Sangh thereafter.

There is no doubt that the BJP leadership has over the years been trying to usurp the legacy of the Sardar, who was a very tall leader, but someone whose loyalty and commitment to the Congress was unflinching. Yes, he should be honoured, and his contribution in uniting the country, after the British transferred power, was monumental. For some odd reason, the Congress, has not given him and his role as much importance as it should have, and thus the BJP, has been making a conscious attempt to take over his legacy.