Senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member Digvijaya Singh ignited fresh controversy on Saturday with a social media post that seemingly lauded the BJP and RSS organizational structure. His remarks celebrated how grassroots workers who once sat at leaders’ feet rose through the ranks to occupy positions such as chief minister and prime minister.
“I found this picture on the Quora site. It is very impressive. The way grassroots swayamsevaks (workers) of the RSS and workers of the Jan Sangh/BJP sit on the floor at the feet of leaders and go on to become the Chief Minister of a state and the Prime Minister of the country shows the power of the organisation. Jai Siya Ram,” Singh wrote in Hindi on X.
The former Madhya Pradesh chief minister shared a black-and-white photograph from the 1990s showing Prime Minister Narendra Modi seated on the floor while BJP veteran LK Advani occupied a chair during an event in Gujarat. The image reportedly dates back to former Gujarat chief minister Shankersinh Vaghela’s swearing-in ceremony in 1996.
Following backlash, Singh clarified to reporters that his post only appreciated the organizational structure and insisted he would maintain his opposition to the BJP and RSS.
Message to Congress leadership?
Singh’s decision to tag Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, MPs Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and the party’s social media handles in his post has been interpreted as a signal to the high command. Just a week earlier, on December 19, Singh had publicly called for internal party reforms and expressed frustration about convincing Rahul Gandhi on the matter.
“Rahul Gandhi ji, you are absolutely ‘Bang On’ in matters of Socio-Economic Issues. Full Marks. But now please look at @INCIndia also. Like @ECISVEEP needs Reforms, So Does Indian National Congress. You have started with ‘organisation creation’ But we need more Pragmatic Decentralised Functioning. I am sure you would do it because I know you can do it. Only problem is that it is not easy to ‘Convince’ you,” he stated in that earlier post.
Singh’s second Rajya Sabha term concludes early next year, and prospects for a third term appear slim given that Kamal Nath and Meenakshi Natarajan are reportedly positioned ahead in the succession queue for his seat.
BJP seizes opportunity to target Rahul Gandhi
The BJP quickly leveraged Singh’s tweet to attack Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, characterizing the post as a “truth bomb.” BJP spokesperson CR Kesavan claimed the comment exposed the Congress leadership’s “autocratic and undemocratic” nature.
“Will Rahul Gandhi show courage & react to the shocking Truth Bomb dropped by Shri. Digvijaya Singh’s tweet which has totally exposed how Congress first family ruthlessly runs the party in a dictatorial manner and also how autocratic & undemocratic this Congress leadership is (sic),” Kesavan wrote on X.
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