‘Men and Women Are Like Railway Track’: RSS Analogy to Hit Back at Rahul Gandhi

Guwahati: At a time when three northeastern states of India – Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura – are election-bound, the BJP and RSS lost little time in hitting back at Congress president Rahul Gandhi for his controversial remark on the status of women within the RSS. Rahul, during a visit to Shillong, claimed that RSS is an organisation which is based on the “idea of disempowering women”.

“The RSS believes that men and women are like a railway track. A train can’t operate on one without the other. Without women, the society is incomplete. Indian women have been leading this nation for ages. What Rahul Gandhi said was his ignorance speaking,” responded RSS Spokesperson, Ranjib Sharma, in Guwahati.

Sharma claimed that the organization’s women’s wing, Rashtra Sevika Samiti, comprising the world’s largest number of women volunteers has been working towards the empowerment of Hindu women since inception.

The retort came barely hours after Rahul Gandhi’s comment during his address at St. Edmund's College in Shillong on Wednesday, where he was quoted by news agency ANI as saying, “RSS idea is aimed at dis-empowering women. Does anyone know how many leadership positions are with women in RSS? Zero. If you see pictures of Mahatma Gandhi you’ll find women on this side (right), this side (left) but if you see pictures of Mohan Bhagwat, he’ll be alone or surrounded by men.”

Sharp reactions came from the BJP unit of Meghalaya as well where the party took to Twitter to vent out its anger. In a statement re-tweeted by BJP general secretary Ram Madhav, the party said: “We take offence to the insult hurled by @OfficeOfRG on Bapu’s legacy with his comment! We take offence to Cong Prez outraging the modesty of women power, reducing their relevance to physical proximity to senior leaders! Congress dared to insult matrilineal society of Meghalaya!”

In his speech, Rahul further said, "In our society, women have a very large space. They play a crucial role in decision making and running things. However, the RSS does not believe in women's rights and give more power to men to dominate without fear in the society".

The Congress leader alleged that the BJP and RSS were attempting to undermine the culture, language and way of life for people across India, particularly in the North-East.

Elections to the 60-member Meghalaya Assembly are scheduled to take place on February 27. The results would be declared on March 3.