Kerala Bharatiya Janata Party head Kummanam Rajashekaran hit back at Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday for his remarks against Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat.
“I am happy to see that the CPI(M) leaders are now defending and supporting the Indian Army, though the intention is to defame RSS. I would like to know if Kodiyeri (Balakrishnan) will still stand by his statement on Indian Army’s immoral behaviour with the women. RSS and BJP do not have to learn nationalism from CPI(M),” wrote Kummanam on Facebook.
He added that Bhagwat’s remarks had been misinterpreted and that he was only talking about the strength and unity of the Hindutva organisation.
“He has only said that at the time of emergency if the government allows army would take 6 months to train and equip the people, but RSS workers would only take 3 days to equip themselves,” the post said.
“RSS workers have assisted the Indian Army in all four wars that the country has fought. Instead of trying to teach RSS nationalism, I would request CPI(M) to tell its secretary that his motherland is not China but India,” Kummanam’s post added.
Speaking in Muzaffarpur on Sunday, Mohan Bhagwat had said, "Ours is not a military organisation, but we have military discipline. And if the country requires it and the Constitution … then the army would take six to seven months to get ready, our volunteers will take three days. This is our capability.”
On Monday, the Kerala chief minister had torn into Bhagwat for his remarks, saying it was in "poor taste and against Constitutional propriety".
The CM also added that Bhagwat's statements only "confirms our worst fears about the Sangh – that it has no respect for India’s institutions”.
"His statement exposes the RSS’s hidden agenda to float parallel militias to wreak havoc and crush national unity. The RSS wants to turn India into Mussolini’s Italy and Hitler’s Germany. The parallel army he is talking about is what we have always warned against: Hindu Terror. Running down the army amounts to treason," Pinarayi Vijayan wrote on Facebook.