Wardha (Maharashtra): Two days after the BJP took exception to Congress leader and former law minister Salman Khurshid's controversial remarks on Hindutva in his new book, 'Sunrise Over Ayodhya: Nationhood in Our Times', Rahul Gandhi took off the matter that would ruffle many feathers in the saffron party. During his online address to a four-day 'AICC orientation programme' organised at Sevagram Ashram in Wardha on Friday, Rahul said, "Today, whether we like it or not, the hateful ideology of RSS and BJP has overshadowed the loving, affectionate and nationalistic ideology of Congress Party, we have to accept this. Our ideology is alive, vibrant but it has been overshadowed."
Congress ideology is like a "beautiful jewel" with an unending power inside it, but it has been overshadowed by the BJP, and maintained Hindu and Hindutva are different concepts, he added.
If crystalized, the Congress ideology which is alive and vibrant will envelop that of the BJP-RSS, he said and emphasised on strengthening his party's ideas within the organisation and spreading them across the country.
He said, "We have to accept that there are two ideologies in India — the Congress ideology and the RSS ideology. We have to accept the BJP-RSS has spread hatred in today's India."
The former Congress president said there has been "complete capture" of the media by the saffron outfit.
"The BJP has overshadowed the loving, affectionate and nationalistic ideology of the Congress party. Our ideology is alive and vibrant, but it has been overshadowed by the BJP," said the Lok Sabha MP from Wayanad in Kerala.
The Gandhi scion admitted saying the Congress has been "overshadowed partly because of complete capture of the media and complete capture of the Indian nation. It has also been overshadowed as we have not propagated our ideology among our own people aggressively".
On Hindutva and Hinduism, Gandhi said they are two "different concepts".
These are the types of things we need to explore and understand and develop a group of people...100, 200, 300, 500 people who deeply understand these differences, who can apply these differences to issues, behaviour, to action.
Talking of Hinduism, Rahul asked, "Is Hinduism about beating a Sikh, or a Muslim. Hindutva, of course, is. In which book is it written? I have not seen it. I have read the Upanishads. I have not read it."
Questioning the very need of Hindutva, the Congress leader said, "We say there is a difference between Hindutva and Hindu religion. It is a simple logic - if you are a Hindu then why do you need Hindutva? why do you need this new name?"
The Congress leader went on to add that in today's India, the ideological fight has become very important. "The Congress ideology...the ideology it follows has been existing in India for thousands of years. Just like the RSS has its icons, the Congress has its own icons... they are different icons. But, we have them, it is about bringing this ideological ocean and allowing our people to swim in it," he said.
In a rare admittance, Gandhi said Congress did not propagate its ideas properly in the past. "Now is the time to strengthen Congress ideology in its own organisation and spread it across India through party workers," he said. He called for ideological training, which he said, should be mandatory for all party workers. "The central way to propagate the party's ideology is by training people in a conversation about what it means to be a Congress person and how is that different from being an RSS person."
Stressing the need to impart the Congress ideology, Gandhi said if studied and propagated deeply in the organisation, has answers of all questions related to various issues of public concern - ranging from Article 370, terrorism to nationalism, but the party doesn't give necessary tools to its workers to articulate them.
Gandhi said the Congress ideology is like a "beautiful jewel" with an unending power inside it.
"It is our strength...it is why we exist and it is important we discover it. They (BJP) have discovered their ideology and crystalized it. We have to crystalize our ideology and the moment we do that it will envelop their ideology. The hate that is being spread today will vanish and the future which seems uncertain will become certain," he added.
