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Congress leader Rahul Gandhi triggered a political row in Kerala after equating the CPI(M) and the RSS in his speech at a memorial event in Puthuppally, Kottayam, on Friday, July 18. Addressing the gathering on the second death anniversary of former Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, Rahul Gandhi said that both the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) lacked “feelings” for the people.
“I fight the RSS and CPI(M) ideologically,” said the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha. “But my biggest complaint is that they do not have feelings for the people. If you are in politics, you must feel what people are thinking, listen to them, touch them. The real tragedy in Indian politics today is that very few people are actually feeling what others are feeling.”
The comments, made in Kerala, a state where the CPI(M) holds power and continues a longstanding ideological battle with the RSS, sparked swift and sharp reactions from the Left.
CPI(M) Politburo member MA Baby, in a strongly worded video statement, said Rahul Gandhi's comparison betrayed a fundamental misunderstanding of the CPI(M)’s role in Indian and Kerala politics. “The statement is unfortunate,” he said. “Especially in Kerala, where CPI(M) has lost over 100 young comrades fighting the RSS. Equating the two is not only incorrect but deeply insulting to those who laid down their lives.”
Baby also reminded Rahul Gandhi of the political history that saw the CPI(M) supporting the Congress-led UPA government in 2004. “The very fact that Mr Manmohan Singh could form a government was because of Left support. The Congress did not have a majority,” he pointed out.
Taking a swipe at Rahul Gandhi’s political presence in Kerala, Baby said, “Maybe the moment Rahul Gandhi steps into Kerala, he becomes a former MP from Wayanad.” Rahul Gandhi had won both Wayanad and Rae Bareli in the recent Lok Sabha polls but gave up the Kerala seat, which was later retained by his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra against a CPI candidate.
Further escalating the criticism, CPI(M) Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas accused the Congress in Kerala of keeping Rahul Gandhi “politically naive.” In a veiled jab at the Gandhi siblings’ electoral strategy, Brittas said, “They chose Kerala, especially Wayanad, essentially a safe zone, courtesy of their ally IUML, to stage their so-called full-frontal attack on the RSS. No risks, all gain.”
Brittas also invoked the Congress’s past decisions that, in his view, strengthened the RSS. “We’ll resist the temptation to remind Rahul Gandhi on the day of the INDIA bloc meeting how the Congress played a role in empowering the RSS—from unlocking the Babri Masjid gates to presiding over its demolition,” he said. “Ironically, much of what he knows about the RSS may well have come from our late leader Sitaram Yechury.”
Despite their sharp response, both Baby and Brittas reiterated that while the CPI(M) continues to critique the Congress on issues like economic policy, it has never equated the Congress with the RSS or the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).