Row erupts after Rahul says 'fighting State, BJP and RSS'

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its ideological fount Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) have captured every institution in the country, and the Congress is fighting not just the two entities but the State itself, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi said on Wednesday, as he accused RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat of treason for saying India achieved true Independence after the Ram temple's consecration in Ayodhya.

- Saubhadra Chatterji

Gandhi's speech at the opening of the new Congress headquarters in Delhi sparked a political storm with senior BJP leaders and ministers alleging that the opposition leader had links to "urban naxals" who want to defame and demean India.

Gandhi's frontal attack was triggered by Bhagwat's statement on Monday that India achieved true independence when the Ram Mandir was consecrated in Ayodhya last year, and that in 1947, the country had only gained political independence. "What Bhagwat said yesterday is treason... Because he is stating that the Constitution is invalid and the fight against the British was invalid. He has the audacity to say this publicly. In any other country, he would be arrested and tried. That is a fact," Gandhi said at the inauguration of the Indira Bhawan, the new party headquarters.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge also slammed the RSS chief. "Many divisive powers who had no involvement in the independence movement, you can see what they are saying these days. I have read Bhagwat's statement. Modi and Bhagwat inaugurated the Ram temple. Modi also thinks he got independence in 2014 as he became the PM in that year."