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The reference to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in the Congress's manifesto continued to be at the centre of an acrimonious spat between the opposition party and the ruling BJP in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh Monday.
While, earlier in the day, state Congress chief Kamal Nath accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of "distorting" the RSS reference in his party's manifesto to divert public attention, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan hit back, claiming that the opposition party was "nursing an ego".
Speaking at Khargone Monday evening, Chouhan said, "The RSS is an organisation of patriots and every nationalist and government staffer can attend its shakhas. The Congress is nursing an ego."
He added that he had lifted the ban (restricting government staffers) on attending RSS shakhas.
Earlier at Khargone, the Congress's chief whip in the Lok Sabha, Jyotiraditya Scindia, said religion should not be mixed with politics.
"Our intention is that politics should be kept away from religion. This is our old line of thinking. The Congress, (in order) to see that no government employee joins a political organisation, has raised the issue in its Vachan Patra (manifesto)," he said.
Speaking at Khargone, state BJP chief Rakesh Singh took a swipe at senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh, without naming him, by saying that the opposition party spoke about banning the RSS, while calling terrorist Osama bin Laden "Osamaji".
At Indore, the BJP's chief whip in the Lok Sabha, Anurag Thakur, said, "The ancestors of Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, despite holding big posts at the Centre, could not ban the RSS. So, how can his (Gandhi's) party fulfil its poll promise in Madhya Pradesh? The Congress should stop bothering about the RSS."
Earlier in the day, Nath said, "The BJP is intentionally fanning the RSS issue to divert people's attention from the public welfare issues mentioned in our Vachan Patra (document of pledges). In our manifesto, we have not said the RSS will be banned, nor do we have any such intention."
He asserted that neither the party nor he himself had said the RSS would be banned.
The Congress manifesto, released Saturday, under a head titled "Administrative Reforms", reads, "The holding of RSS shakhas on government premises would be banned and the order regarding the relaxation given to public servants to attend those will be revoked."
The Congress government had banned RSS activities on government premises in Madhya Pradesh in 1981. The ban was revived in 2000 by then chief minister Digvijay Singh under the Civil Services Conduct Rule, senior journalist Rakesh Dixit said.
Thereafter, he said, the ban continued under BJP chief ministers Uma Bharti and Babulal Gaur, before incumbent Chief Minister Chouhan lifted it in September 2006, describing the RSS as a "socio-cultural organisation and not a political outfit".
"The BJP is trying to put words in our mouth. The RSS is free to hold its shakhas (classes) except on government premises. People will decide whether the RSS is a cultural or political organisation. We do not want to get into it," Nath clarified.
The Congress leader accused the BJP of intentionally trying to create confusion so that the "people-friendly" points in the Congress manifesto were ignored.
"The public is intelligent, it will not get carried away with such tactics," he said.
The Chhindwara MP said the Congress had incorporated the RSS issue in its manifesto after getting reports that the shakhas being held in tribal hostels and other government schools were hampering studies.
On the Ram temple issue, he said the BJP raised it whenever polls drew close.
"Where was the BJP for the last four-and-a-half years? When elections are round the corner and six months are left for it (the 2019 Lok Sabha polls), the BJP is remembering the Ram temple," Nath said, adding that the saffron party was running a smear campaign claiming that the Congress was against the (building of) Ram temple.
"This (the RSS point in the Congress manifesto) is not an issue. I know (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi and (BJP president) Amit Shah very well. They turn a non-issue into an issue," Congress spokesperson Shaktisinh Gohil told reporters here.
On Sunday, in a hurriedly-convened press conference, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra had claimed that the Congress believed in "mandir nahin banane denge, shakha nahin lagne denge (won't allow the temple, won't allow shakhas)".
"These are the very people who had earlier said Lord Ram did not exist, that he was a mythical character. That is why they were opposed to the construction of the Ram temple," he had said.
The 230-member Madhya Pradesh Assembly will go to the polls on November 28 and the results will be announced on December 11.
