The Congress on Wednesday took a dig at the statement of senior Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) functionary Dattatreya Hosabale in which he had said that an avenue for talks with Pakistan should always remain open. Congress said that his recent visit to America has affected both them and the RSS.
The opposition party also said that if the same statement had been made by anyone else, there would have been a sharp reaction from the ‘Bhakt Brigade and TV channels’. Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh made this comment while sharing the video of Hosabale’s interview on social media platform X.
He said, it seems that during his recent visit to America, one of his colleagues had admitted that the Prime Minister was working under pressure from America, which had an impact on both Hosabale and the RSS. Ramesh further said, just imagine, if someone else had said the same thing then how much ruckus the Bhakta Brigade and many TV channels would have created.
What did the host say in the interview?
Hosabale had said in an interview with PTI that people-to-people contact is the most important thing to break the deadlock with Pakistan and the door should always be open for dialogue. He said that Pakistan’s military and political leadership has lost the trust of India and now civil society should come forward.
Hosabale said, it is the job of the government to protect the security and honor of the country. But this does not mean that the avenues of dialogue should be closed. We should always be ready to negotiate. The RSS general secretary said that people-to-people contact is most important to end the deadlock between the two countries and it should be further increased.
RSS had recently launched a campaign to remove misconceptions about its organization in western countries, under which Hosabale participated in various programs in America and Britain. Hosabale has lectured at venues including Stanford University and the Hudson Institute, and met with the Indian diaspora community.
Rahul Gandhi also targeted RSS
Meanwhile, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had called RSS ‘Rashtriya Samarpan Sangh’ and accused the organization of taking a different stand abroad and different in India. He had also referred to a statement by RSS leader Ram Madhav, in which he had said that India has agreed to stop purchasing oil from Russia and Iran and accept the tariffs imposed by the US.
However, Ram Madhav later apologized saying that his statement was factually incorrect and India has not stopped importing oil from Russia. He opposed the American tariff.