“An insult to Mahatma Gandhi, Constitution”: Jairam Ramesh slams Mohan Bhagwat’s remark

New Delhi [India], January 16 (ANI): Congress MP Jairam Ramesh condemned RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s remark that India gained “true independence” after the Ram Temple consecration, calling it an insult to Mahatma Gandhi and the Constitution, and demanded an apology from Bhagwat.

Speaking to ANI, Jairam Ramesh said, “Mohan Bhagwat keeps giving such statements on many topics, without any meaning. What he has said is an insult to Mahatma Gandhi and to the Constitution that Baba Saheb Ambedkar had made, this is an attack on it. Mohan Bhagwat should definitely apologize for it. This is anti-national.”

On Monday, Mohan Bhagwat said that India witnessed true independence on the day of Ram Temple’s ‘Pran Pratishtha’ ceremony.

Bhagwat while addressing a gathering at an event in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore, said, “What is our tradition of 5000 years? The one which started from Lord Ram, Lord Krishna and Lord Shiva. India, which had faced centuries of persecution, witnessed true independence on the day of Ram Temple’s ‘Pran Pratishtha’ ceremony. India had gained independence but it was not established.”

Earlier today, Congress MP Digvijay Singh condemned the remarks of RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat over “Independence” and said that the latter should apologize as he has hurt the sentiments of the people of the nation.

Speaking to the media, Singh said, “I condemn this statement as he had hurt the sentiments of people of the nation. He disrespected Mahatma Gandhi who dedicated his life to the freedom struggle, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel…and all those who contributed to the freedom of the nation…It is an insult to all those who suffered during the freedom struggle. Mohan Bhagwat has disrespected them and he should apologise for this.”

On Wednesday, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi also hit out at the BJP and alleged that the Congress and other opposition parties were not just fighting the BJP but the Indian state itself.

“Our ideology like the RSS ideology is thousands of years old and it has been fighting the RSS ideology for thousands of years. Do not think that we are fighting a fair fight. There is no fairness in this. If you believe that we are fighting a political organisation called the BJP or RSS, you have not understood what is going on. The BJP and the RSS have captured every single institution of our country. We are now fighting the BJP, the RSS and the Indian State itself,” he said.