‘Yes we are RSS, even PM Modi is RSS’: Yediyurappa hits out at Congress in Karnataka Assembly

Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Thursday hit out at the Congress for shouting slogans against the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the ideological mentor of the Bharatiya Janata Party, in the state Assembly, PTI reported. He claimed the Opposition had no moral right to criticise the right-wing organisation as even Prime Minister Narendra Modi is associated with it.

The assertion came after some Congress members staged a protest in the Karnataka Assembly against Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri’s decision to hold a special discussion on “One Nation, One Election”. The party called the debate an “RSS agenda” and a conspiracy of the Hindutva group to end democracy in the country.

The Congress also alleged that the discussion was taken up unilaterally and without their consent, reported India Today. This was against the rules of the Assembly, they said.

But the Speaker hit back, alleging that the Opposition had submitted a list of members who would participate in the debate on their half. He said the Congress leaders were backing out at the last minute.

Chaos ensued after some members of the party trooped into the well of the House as they shouted slogans to disrupt the proceedings. Congress leaders kept saying that the subject of debate was “dictatorial, fascist and Hitler attitude”.

As the protests persisted, Chief Minister Yediyurappa snapped at the Congress leaders, saying they had no right to cast aspersions about his party’s ideological mentor. “Yes we are RSS,” the chief minister said. “Even the Prime Minister [Narendra Modi] is from RSS. Do you have the moral right to speak about RSS?”

The BJP leader asked the Opposition to not raise “frivolous issues” or make useless allegations. “You are Opposition MLAs, you should sit in the Assembly to talk about the welfare of the people of the state,” he added, according to India Today.