3 min readApr 25, 2026 02:07 PM IST
Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Saturday reacted to RSS leader and former BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav’s remarks in the US, saying that he had only “revealed the Sangh’s true nature”.
Ram Madhav had expressed surprise at the strain in India-US relations despite what he described as New Delhi having agreed to a range of American demands—from tariffs to oil sourcing decisions. Questioning where India had fallen short in meeting American expectations, Madhav, speaking at a panel discussion in the US on Thursday, said, “We agreed to stop buying oil from Iran and Russia, facing so much criticism from the Opposition. We agreed to 50 per cent tariffs… In the new trade deal also, we agreed to 18 per cent tariffs.”
Rahul Gandhi took a dig at the RSS, and posted on X: “Rashtriya Surrender Sangh. Farzi nationalism in Nagpur. Pure servility in USA.” He further wrote that Ram Madhav “has only revealed Sangh’s true nature”.
In his remarks in the US, Madhav had flagged anxiety within the Indian diaspora over remarks such as “hell hole” and “laptop-wielding charlatans”.
The remarks led the Congress leadership to target the BJP-RSS, with party communication in charge, Jairam Ramesh, saying that “for all its pretentious nationalism, the RSS desperately seeks acceptance abroad”.
“Not content with hiring lobbyists (including those hired by Pakistan), its top ideologues were in the US recently on a PR offensive that fell flat and got caught in its own too-clever-by-half formulations,” said Ramesh.
The Congress MP, in a statement, added: “The ideologues were there when a Government of India delegation was also in Washington DC discussing the bilateral trade deal which in reality is a steal by the US.”
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Ramesh said that the “fact remains” that the RSS “is an outfit that is fundamentally at odds with the very idea of an India deriving its unity through its diversities”.
Led by Gandhi, Opposition parties have led an aggressive campaign against the Narendra Modi government over the India-US trade deal and on foreign affairs. During the Budget session of Parliament, the parties had also demanded a discussion on the trade deal and India’s foreign policy in Parliament. Gandhi has alleged that PM Modi had “completely surrendered” to US President Donald Trump in the deal at the cost of India’s farmers and strategic interests.
