By IANS,
New Delhi: Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh Thursday renewed his attack on the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) saying the RSS was using spiritual gurus to divert attention from its terror activities.
Singh said as part of the overall plan, the RSS first used yoga guru Baba Ramdev, then Anna Hazare and was now planning to utilise spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, who would soon start a campaign against corruption.
“I have been saying from day one, that all this is a part of the overall plan of the BJP-RSS combine. Plan A: Baba Ramdev, plan B: Anna, plan C: Sri Sri Ravishankar Maharaj,” said Singh.
“They want to divert the attention of people of this country from the issue of involvement of Sangh activists in terror,” he said.
He advised the spiritual guru to stay away from the RSS.
“I request Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji not to get involved in this.”
The spiritual guru downplayed the comment and instead asked Singh to join his Art of Living course.
“People write a lot of things about everyone, I cannot respond to all of them,” Ravi Shankar said adding: “I will continue to work against corruption. I am not afraid of anyone.”
He further said that while legislation was needed to combat corruption, “a law alone cannot bring down corruption. A moral and spiritual wave has to be created”.
Digvijay Singh said while the Congress has taken steps to check corruption, the BJP has not done much.
“UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government has taken all possible steps,” he said, referring to the Right to Information Act and the jailing of allegedly corrupt politicians, officials and company executives.
“Why did BJP not register a case against Bangaru Laxman when he was caught taking money on tape? Why a case was not registered against Jaya Jaitley when she was caught on tape striking a deal with an arms dealer in the defence minister’s house,” he asked.
The BJP hit back.
“Digvijay Singh may make any plan he likes, he will only destroy the reputation of the Congress in the country,” BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said.
“The country is angry over black money and corruption. Whoever speaks against it, whether Baba Ramdev or Annaji or civil society, he (Digvijay) goes … against all of them and says all kinds of things,” he said.
Digvijay Singh had earlier targeted the RSS for supporting Anna and had even questioned the credentials of the activist.
Hazare too had recently hit out against a “gang of four” in the UPA government, which, he said was opposed to the Jan Lokpal bill and was carrying out a systematic “character assassination” of his team members.