KPCC president K. Sudhakaran steps into political minefield with ‘pro-RSS’ comments

On 133rd birth anniversary of Nehru, he criticises the first PM for striking a truce with “communal fascists”

Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president K. Sudhakaran has drawn severe criticism from allies and opponents alike for his purportedly “pro-Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)“ comments.

Mr. Sudhakaran first courted controversy on November 9 when he stated that Congress workers had protected RSS offices in Kannur.

On Children’s Day, a day that marked the 133rd birth anniversary of India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Mr. Sudhakaran stepped into another political minefield.

He said that Nehru had struck a truce with “communal fascists” for democracy’s sake by agreeing to accommodate Jan Sangh founder and RSS leader Shyama Prasad Mukherjee in the Cabinet. Mr. Sudhakaran said Nehru applied the same democratic yardstick when he made communist leader A.K. Gopalan as the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha.

However, the observation probably came at an inopportune moment for the Congress when the party struggled at the national level to prevent the large-scale defection of its rank and file to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Moreover, BJP and RSS workers were filing court cases across the country to “impede” the progress of the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra.

Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leader M.K. Muneer, MLA, was the first to accuse Mr. Sudhakaran of crossing a line. He reminded the KPCC president that Mr. Gandhi had made it unambiguously clear that there was no space in the Congress for those who sport an “RSS mind.”

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] State secretariat immediately seized on the controversy to find a common cause with the IUML, the largest party in the United Democratic Front (UDF) after the Congress, against the KPCC president. It accused Mr. Sudhakaran of dragging the Congress perilously closer to the patently anti-minority and Hindu majoritarian RSS camp.

Soon, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan slammed Mr. Sudhakaran for “being a Sangh Parivar adherent in Congress garb.” He said the KPCC president’s “RSS affinity” reflected the deep crisis and political decadence in the Congress party.

Mr. Vijayan said Mr. Sudhakaran had used Nehru’s birth anniversary to whitewash the RSS. Mr. Sudhakaran wilfully eclipsed the truth that Nehru, on December 7, 1947, wrote a cautionary note to Chief Ministers warning them that the RSS was a “private army with a Nazi character.”

Mr. Vijayan said that Nehru held the RSS responsible for Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination. Nehru also arrested Mukherjee for protesting against Kashmir’s special status guaranteed by the now-withdrawn Article 370 of the Constitution.

Congress leader A.K. Antony said some quarters had distorted Mr. Sudhakaran’s statement, and none needed to doubt Congress’s secular credentials.