New Delhi: Under fire for his controversial statement on the BJP’s performance in the recently-held 2024 Lok Sabha elections, RSS leader Indresh Kumar tried to water down his comments.
Indresh had sparked a row by stating that the BJP (240 seats) fell well below the majority mark of 272 on its own because of its ‘arrogance’.
“The party which did bhakti of Lord Ram and became arrogant was stopped at 240… however, it became the biggest party,” said Indresh at an event near Jaipur, adding that “those who had no faith in Ram were stopped at 234,” referring to the Opposition NDA bloc.
“See the ‘Vidhan’ of Ram Rajya in democracy — those who did ‘Bhakti’ of Ram but gradually turned arrogant, emerged as the biggest party; however, the vote and the power that they should have been given was stopped by God due to arrogance,” he had remarked.
Realising his faux pas, Indresh made a U-turn as he sought to control damage.
“The mood of the country is very clear at present. Those who opposed Lord Ram are not in power; those who set the goal to respect Lord Ram are in power and the government has been formed for the third time under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” he clarified.
Indresh’s comments was preceded by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s statement that a true ‘sevak’ should serve people without arrogance and maintain dignity.
The RSS rubbished suggestions of a rift with the BJP.
“There is no rift between the RSS and the BJP,” RSS insiders said, adding that Bhagwat’s remarks were a message to BJP leadership following its below-par performance in the polls.