While speaking about ex-Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia, Rahul Gandhi reportedly said, ‘He had to save his house and he got scared and he joined the RSS.’
In a strongly worded statement, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday said that those party workers who are scared to take on the BJP, should leave the party and join the RSS. He made the comments while referring to BJP leader Jyotiraditya Scindia while addressing the Congress’ social media workers virtually.
Citing Scindia's example, sources said that Rahul Gandhi told Congress workers, "He had to save his house and he got scared and he joined the RSS."
Many well-known Congress leaders quit the party during the last two years. Apart from Scindia, the others include Jitin Prasada, Narayan Rane, Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil and Khushboo Sundar.
Rahul Gandhi during his address also said that those who are fearless and in sync with the Congress’ ideology are welcome to join the party.
"There are many people who are not scared, but are outside the Congress. All these people are ours. Bring them in, and those scared within our party should be shunted out," he told the social media workers.
"They are RSS people and they should go, let them enjoy. We do not want them, they are not needed. We want fearless people. This is our ideology. This is my basic message to you," he added.
He said this when the party workers asked him about the cases being registered against all those who raised their voice against the BJP.
This is the first time Gandhi addressed around 3,500 workers of the Congress social media department through video conference on Zoom.
He let them know that he was always with them and asked them not to be afraid of anyone. Gandhi also cited the example of Mahatma Gandhi, who was never afraid of the British despite their atrocities.
He asked the social media members not to be afraid of talking to him as they were a part of his family. "You are talking to your brother and you should not be scared," he told them.
"You should not be scared and you will never see me being afraid," he said, adding that the Congress wants to give equal rights to all but the RSS wants to benefit only a few.
Senior party leader and former Telangana chief Uttam Kumar Reddy quoted Mahatma Gandhi to say that Rahul Gandhi was following in his footsteps.
"'The enemy is fear. We think it is hate; but, it is fear' ~ Mahatma Gandhi.
"Our leader Shri Rahul Gandhi following in the footsteps of the Mahatma. To defeat the hate propagated by the RSS-BJP, the Congress needs fearless people, not cowards," Reddy tweeted, sharing a video of Rahul Gandhi.
Gandhi also personally interacted with around 10 young workers from different fields, party sources said.
(With PTI inputs)