Congress’ Seva Dal Praises RSS, Later Calls It ‘Printing Error’ And ‘Scam’

Seva Dal, the grassroots front organisation of the Congress, allegedly praised the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in a press release on Monday, triggering controversy in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh.

The Madhya Pradesh unit of the organisation called RSS a disciplined organisation like the military and termed its founder K B Hedgewar a patriot.

Defending its move, the Congress outfit claimed that it was "trying to tell history" through the release and that the praise was nothing more than a "printing mistake". Seva Dal chief, however, called the statement a "scam".

This comes just days after Congress President Rahul Gandhi attacked the RSS, equating it to the Muslim Brotherhood. The outfit, a social and political Islamist movement founded in 1928 in Egypt, is considered to be a terror outfit by many countries in the world. Interestingly, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government had in 2013 hosted Mohammed Morsi, the then Egyptian president and a key leader of the outfit Muslim Brotherhood.

Reports say the RSS is likely to invite Gandhi to one of its events.