RSS ruling country giving scant regard to constitutional values: Vijayan

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday launched a scathing attack on the Sangh Parivar saying the RSS, which was banned after Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination, was now ruling the country, giving scant regard to the nation’s constitutional values.

Paying tributes to Gandhi on his 75th death anniversary, Vijayan said the whole idea of India was “wounded” when the father of the nation was killed by a “religious fanatic”.  In a Facebook post, he said Hindu nationalists always considered Gandhi as an enemy as he was “fully aware of the threats posed by majoritarian sectarianism”.

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“The Hindu nationalists always considered him as an enemy. Gandhi stood for Hindu-Muslim harmony till his last breath. The India he envisioned is in every aspect antithetical to the Hindutva nation concept of the Sangh Parivar. When Gandhiji was shot dead by a religious fanatic named Nathuram Vinayak Godse, the idea of India itself was wounded,” Vijayan wrote.

The chief minister said the Sangh Parivar was pursuing its political goals in the country by using hate and divisive politics. “Today, in some parts, children are being taught that Gandhi died instead of Gandhi was killed. This is another proof that the Sangh Parivar is always afraid of Gandhiji,” the Left leader said.

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Vijayan said racists eliminated Gandhi for envisioning a secular India, and remembering the father of the nation was India’s eternal antidote to the politics of communal division. “On this day we should take a pledge that we are ready to fight to protect the constitution and secularism of the country,” Vijayan said.

Recently, Vijayan had accused the Sangh Parivar of treating Muslims and Christians as “enemies of the nation” and urged everyone to unite against such divisive actions, drawing sharp criticism from the BJP.

(With Agency inputs)