Congress is haunted by RSS phobia: Jitendra Singh

JAMMU: Hitting out at Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad for trying to draw a parallel between the RSS and terrorist outfit ISIS, Union Minister Jitendra Singh today alleged the Congress leaders were suffering from "RSS phobia" as the party was fast losing its ground.

"RSS is a nationalist organisation, it is not a terrorist organisation, but whenever Congress leaders find the ground slipping beneath their feet, they are haunted by the RSS phobia," Singh, the Union Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office, said.

"...they get scared of the RSS. You can recall that when Ghulam Nabi Azad lost Parliamentary elections from Udhampur Kathua, he had said the same thing that the RSS made him lose the elections," Singh told reporters on the sidelines of a function here today.

Azad had yesterday drawn a parallel between the RSS and the international terrorist organisation ISIS, evoking sharp responses from the Hindutva outfit and BJP, which demanded an apology from him.

"So, we oppose organisations like ISIS, the way we oppose RSS. If those among us in Islam too do wrong things, they are no way less than RSS," the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha had said during an event organised by Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind.

To a question on "intolerance" debate, the Union minister said the country needs freedom from thinkers "who spoil the name of the country".

"I think in no other country across the world such things would be tolerated. If freedom is needed, it is needed from such thinkers, who invent new formulae (to defame the country)," Singh said.

He said the people who raise such issues have found the easiest way to remain in news."It has become an easy thing that say something against Modi government and it makes a news," he said.

Earlier speaking at the function, Singh lauded the role of the Sindhi and the Kashmiri Pandit communities for preserving their language. He said that despite having suffered so much, the two communities have preserved their culture and their language.