A day after Rahul Gandhi targeted the RSS, Haryana Interior Minister Anil Vij on Tuesday lashed out at the congress leader, saying he should attend an RSS shakha for a few days as he knows nothing about the organization .
Haryana Prime Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said even the leaders of Congress were perplexed by Gandhi’s remarks.
“He remains a pappu,” Khattar said, referring to the term, meaning naïve and ignorant, often used by BJP leaders to target Rahul Gandhi.
Rahul Gandhi attacked the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), calling its members the “21st Century Kauravas” during a corner meeting in Ambala on Monday as part of his Bharat Jodo Yatra.
Vij lashed out at Gandhi, saying he spoke about the poor but who slept in a “palace on wheels” during his yatra.
“He has no right to comment on RSS that he doesn’t know about,” the BJP leader said, adding that “the country is standing today because of RSS.”
Rahul Gandhi should go to an RSS “Shakha” for a few days to learn about RSS, he said.
Vij also took a swipe at Gandhi for saying he decided to wear only T-shirts during the walk after meeting three poor girls “trembling in torn clothes” in Madhya Pradesh.
“Rahul Gandhi should at least have gone to these girls’ house to see how they live, where they sleep… he sleeps in a palace on wheels, furnished with every luxury and part of a fleet of vehicles that accompany him, “, said the minister
Vij said millions of rupees would be spent on his trip and inquired about where the funds came from.
Regarding Gandhi’s remarks, Khattar told reporters, “You don’t understand the philosophy he follows from the kind of remarks he makes…”
“Sometimes he becomes Shiv Bakht (Lord Shiva’s devotee) and then asks who (Har Har Mahadev) awakens Jaikara, sometimes he targets Pujaris. Even congressmen are baffled.
“Anyway, he remains a pappu,” said the prime minister.
Gandhi claimed Monday that RSS people never say “Har Har Mahadev” and “Jai Siya Ram” as they are against India’s values and “Tapasya”.
The Bharat Jodo Yatra, which began September 7th in Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu, will end on January 30th in Srinagar, where Gandhi will raise the national flag.
It moved to Punjab on Tuesday after passing seven Haryana districts in two stages, with the Haryana stage ending in Ambala district.
The march has so far covered Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.