Rahul Gandhi, whose opposition to communal politics is unambiguous and fierce, on Tuesday said he could not enter the RSS office ever and would have to be beheaded first.

The Congress leader was asked at a news conference in Hoshiarpur if reconciliation with his cousin Feroze Varun Gandhi was possible in the spirit of the Bharat Jodo Yatra.

“He is in the BJP. My ideology does not match his ideology. Meri vichardhara… main RSS ke office mein kabhi nahin ja sakta. Mera aapko gala kaatna padega pahle (My ideology… I can never go to the RSS office. You would have to cut my head off first). I just can’t go there. Impossible,” Rahul said.

The Congress leader has often asserted that there can be no compromise on ideology. He has said he doesn’t fight for an RSS-mukt Bharat as the RSS too represents Indians, but accepting its worldview is out of the question.

Rahul said he was willing to meet Varun and hug him but could not accept that his cousin had embraced the RSS ideology.

“My family represents an ideology, it has a thought system. Varun, at one point in time, perhaps even today, embraced the RSS ideology. I cannot accept that. I can meet him but can’t accept that ideology. Some years ago, Feroze told me the RSS is doing good work in the country. I told him to study our family’s history. If he understood it, he would have never said what he did,” the Congress leader said.

A section of the Congress leadership has all along been considered to be soft towards the RSS and this perhaps allowed the outfit that was banned after Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination to survive and gain strength over the decades. The first ban on the RSS, imposed on February 4, 1948, was lifted on July 12, 1949. It was banned again in 1975 during the Emergency and a third time in 1992 after the demolition of the Babri Masjid.

The RSS, the fountainhead of the BJP, claims to be a cultural organisation having nothing to do with politics.

While Congress leaders attack the BJP for communal politics, most of them avoid dragging the RSS into the routine political discourse. But Rahul’s advent at the top has altered that strategy, with him making pointed attacks on the RSS and now taking the ideological battle to the Bharat Jodo Yatra.

The RSS has dragged Rahul to court for blaming it for Mahatma Gandhi’s murder. Instead of tendering an apology as the RSS had sought, the Congress leader has decided to fight the legal battle.

Despite two electoral jolts in 2014 and 2019, Rahul has pursued the ideological battle against the RSS instead of trying to defeat the BJP through tactical positioning. He has tried to convince the people that the RSS does not have a monopoly over the Hindu religion and that it is only using religious sentiments to capture political power. He has consistently explained the difference between Hinduism and the political project of Hindutva.

Even on Tuesday, Rahul suggested that the RSS neither understood Indian culture nor the Hindu religion. He said: “The Hindu religion, or any other religion, doesn’t preach hatred and violence. Hinduism is particularly peace-loving. Nowhere do you find in Hindu scriptures that you should spread hate, indulge in violence. The RSS doesn’t do what is written in the scriptures.”

Asked about RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat saying Hindus were at war and hence the aggression was understandable, he retorted: “I don’t know which Hinduism he is quoting… I have read the Gita, Upanishads. I have never heard that Hindus should be aggressive. Hinduism is all about observation, understanding the self, about humility and compassion. I don’t know what he is talking about. Maybe he has not read these books.”

He added: “Even Lord Ram felt compassion for Ravana. When Ravana was dying, Lord Ram was affectionate, gentle. I don’t know where this gentleman is getting ideas from. They are certainly not Hindu ideas. They are RSS ideas.”

Bhagwat was talking about aggression in Hindus in the context of hate speech, which includes threats to Muslims, calls for rape and genocide.

Asked how the Congress would fight the BJP which was bound to create much hype around the Ram temple that is expected to be ready by 2024, Rahul said: “They will do their work, we will do ours. They will spread hatred, divide people and we will continue to spread love and brotherhood. Love will triumph.”

The Bharat Jodo Yatra has convinced many people that the fight is between two visions — one hate-filled and arrogant and the other a vision of peace, harmony and mutual respect.

To a question about the “godi media” running a Hindu-Muslim narrative and whether he too would try to control the media, he said: “I never used the term ‘godi media’; that’s not my phrase. I say the media is controlled, under pressure. Hate is spread by the media as a ploy for distraction. They keep the people engaged in trivial issues and the government transfers wealth to crony capitalists. The media’s role is that of a watchdog. They should be raising issues of farmers, employment, small businesses. Our philosophy supports independent media, and independent institutions. For us, the media is a feedback channel.”

Asked about many leaders quitting the Congress, he said: “People are going to the BJP because of a particular type of pressure, hidden pressure of the CBI, ED, etc. I am quite happy these types of people have gone. The Congress has extremely dynamic workers and capable leaders. I am happy the riff-raff has gone away.”