Nitish should attend RSS shakha at least once, retorts BJP

New Delhi: Hitting back at Nitish Kumar who has called for a 'Sangh-mukt' (Sangh-free) country "to save democracy", BJP on Sunday said critics of RSS should at least attend its 'shakha' for a day to clear their "misconceptions".

The party made it clear that it was unfazed by efforts to form a united front to counter it and said such attempts to stop the Modi government "from working for the development of the country and for the poor will not succeed".

BJP spokesperson Shrikant Sharma launched a scathing attack on the Nitish government in Bihar, saying the state is back to "jungle raj" days.

He said that everyone was aware of JD(U) leader's national ambitions. Taking a dig at the Congress, Sharma asked party President Sonia Gandhi to make it clear if Rahul Gandhi will lead such a front or will he be just part of it.

"Nitish Kumar has called for an RSS-free India. You have stayed with people from Sangh for long. You have had a long coalition with BJP. You have been participating in BJP programme also. But you have called for a Sangh-free India. It is better you learn and understand the Sangh a little bit.

"And for that visiting the Shakha of the Sangh is the best. Those who oppose the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in the country should first at least visit its 'shakha' (meeting).

"Only then will they have a better understanding and their misconceptions cleared. Only then the technical glitches in their software will be fixed," Sharma said, stressing that the RSS has always worked in the interest of the country.

Kumar's JD(U) had snapped its 17-year-old alliance with BJP in 2013 as it was opposed to naming Narendra Modi as the prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 general election.

Addressing a press conference at the BJP headquarters, Sharma cautioned the Bihar Chief Minister saying that from Jawaharlal Nehru to Indira Gandhi, and from Rajiv Gandhi to Sonia Gandhi, all had opposed the RSS but the organisation has only grown.

He also questioned Nitish's call to all non-BJP, non-RSS organisations to come under one banner "to save democracy and to maintain the country's unity by putting a brake on increasing activities of communal forces".

"The attempt is only to stop the Modi government to take steps for development of the country, to stop job opportunities for the youth and to stop the government from helping the poor," Sharma said.

His party colleague and Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said that Nitish Kumar used to once chant anti-Congress statements, but was now standing with the Congress.

"You (Nitish) are unable to digest the fact that we are working for poor, weaker sections of the society. And therefore, you are not opposing BJP but the efforts to uplift the weaker sections and to empower the poor. We have no objections to what he says. He won't succeed in his motive," Naqvi said.