Rahul has committed a political crime: BJP

Patna: The BJP on Thursday slammed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for describing the RSS and SIMI as similar entities and said he had committed a 'political crime' gripped with a 'sick mindset' and should withdraw his comments.

"By equating a socio-cultural outfit like RSS with a banned communal outfit like SIMI, Rahul has committed a political crime," the BJP National Vice-President Kiran Ghai said in a statement here and asked Gandhi to withdraw his remarks.

The AICC General Secretary should have done his home work before speaking about the RSS and equating it with the banned outfit, she said.

"The RSS has always been eager to make any sacrifice in the service of the nation during a crisis, while the SIMI has collaborated with terrorist and anti-national forces to create a security problem," she said.

Alleging that vote bank 'virus' had blurred Gandhi's vision in distinguishing between nationalist and anti-national forces, Ghai said the comments of the Congress leader had hurt the sentiments of "crores of people" having faith in its nationalist ideology.

Reminding the Amethi MP that the RSS volunteers had supplied rations to Indian soldiers during 1965 Indo-Pak war, Ghai claimed that the RSS was the first apolitical outfit to run relief camps for flood-affected people of Kosi region two years ago and helped without making distinction on the basis of religion.