Kamal Nath, a long-time colleague of Digvijaya Singh, soon said he did not support the decision either
The Madhya Pradesh government's move to withdraw security from the offices of the RSS -- the BJP's ideological mentor Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh -- backfired when senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh called it out today.
After reports on the security situation at the Bhopal offices of the RSS, Digvijaya Singh tweeted to say that the decision was "unfair". The senior leader -- who has been tagged "anti-RSS and anti-Hindu" by the local BJP leaders -- also requested Chief Minister Kamal Nath to provide adequate security immediately.
Kamal Nath, a long-time party colleague of Digvijaya Singh, soon said he did not support the administration's decision either.
"We can have ideological differences with the RSS, but I don't support the decision to remove security from outside their office in Bhopal," the Chief Minister said.
He said he directed officials to continue the deployment securitymen at the RSS office.
The red faced police department denied any security was removed. Only guards of the Special Armed Forces were removed, that too, because they were need to pitch in with election-related jobs, a senior police officer was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
SAF guards, he said, were removed from six places, including the RSS office. There wasn't any order, the move was routine, he said.
Seventy-two-year-old Digvijaya Singh has returned to the rough and tumble of Lok Sabha elections and on a dare from Kamal Nath, is contesting from Bhopal, one of the toughest seats for the Congress. In a recent interview, he said the Congress could win 20 of the state's 29 seats if it manages to capture Indore and Vidisha along with Bhopal, from the BJP.
The Congress had put an end to the three-term rule of the BJP's Shivraj Singh Chouhan in the state last year. But Rahul Gandhi had put Kamal Nath -- who was seen as having a calming effect on the factionalised party - in charge of the government as well.
Last week, Digvijaya Singh had questioned why the RSS was "hostile" to him even though he was a Hindu. "I have no dispute with the RSS. If the RSS is an organisation of Hindus, Digvijaya Singh too is a Hindu. Then why this hostility," he had said.