'Those who uphold Lord Ram's legacy are now in power,' RSS leader shifts stance after controversy

New Delhi: After his remarks on BJP's performance in the Lok Sabha elections 2024 spiralled into a controversy, RSS leader Indresh Kumar has retracted his statement. According to NDTV, he mentioned that the election results indicate the defeat of those who opposed Lord Ram, while those who aimed to uphold Lord Ram's legacy are now in power.

Kumar's statement caused a stir when he suggested that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was restricted to 240 seats due to its arrogance. Speaking at the 'Ramrath Ayodhya Yatra Darshan Poojan Samaroh' at Kanota near Jaipur on Thursday, Kumar said, "The party which did bhakti of Lord Ram and became arrogant was stopped at 240; however, it became the biggest party."

"And those who had no faith in Ram were stopped at 234," he said, referring to the INDIA 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."

The remark came days after RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat said that a true 'sevak' does not have arrogance and serves the people by maintaining 'dignity'. The RSS on Friday sought to quell the suggestions of its rift with the BJP and that Bhagwat's critical references were aimed at the ruling party, insisting that such claims are just speculation meant to create confusion.

"There is no rift between the RSS and the BJP," the RSS sources said, amid the assertion by a section of people, including the opposition leaders, that Bhagwat's remarks, including "true sevak is never arrogant", were a message to the BJP leadership following its below-par performance in the polls.

"There was not much difference in his (Bhagwat) speech from what he had given after the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Any address is bound to make a reference to an event as important as national elections. "But it was misinterpreted and taken out of context to create confusion. His 'arrogance' remark was never directed at Prime Minister Narendra Modi or any BJP leader," the sources said.
(With PTI Inputs)