The BJP is engaging in a strategic effort to associate itself with Indian patriotism by hijacking slogans and chanting them as abuses against opposition leaders. As a nationalist party, the BJP by ideology is against India’s secular and democratic fabric. The RSS refused to participate in India’s freedom struggle, including the Quit India Movement of 1942. Under Golwalkar, the RSS adopted a non-confrontational approach. They praised Franco, Mussolini and Hitler in the late 1930s, and idealized Italian and German Fascism as a lesson. The party still seeks to impose a uniform Indian identity, despite our vibrant unity in diversity. Congress fought for Indian independence, and also liberated Goa from Portuguese rule.Their leaders went to prison and gave their lives for India’s freedom. They built a nation from the ashes of British rule. BJP and the BJYM preaching patriotism and calling Congress anti-India is utterly laughable and ridiculous. They should catch the terrorists of the 2025 Pahalgam attack, who are still roaming free. As a youth myself, the BJYM look frustrated, angry and filled with hatred toward their own imagined “enemy within,” echoing Hitler’s rhetoric against the Jews.
ERROL MORAES, Via email
