New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said his party was fighting the “BJP, RSS and the Indian state itself”, triggering a row with the BJP alleging that everything the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha does or says is in the direction of breaking India and dividing the society.

Speaking at the inauguration of the new Congress headquarters here, Gandhi also hit out at RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, saying his remark that India got “true independence” after the Ram temple consecration amounts to treason and is an insult to every Indian.

“Do not think that we are fighting a fair fight. There is no fairness in this. If you believe that we are fighting a political organisation called the BJP, that we are fighting a political organisation called the RSS, you have not understood what is going on.

“The BJP and the RSS have captured every single institution of our country. We are now fighting the BJP, the RSS and the Indian state itself,” he said addressing Congress leaders.

The remark drew sharp criticism from the BJP, with party chief and Union minister J P Nadda saying the Congress’ “ugly truth” has been exposed by its own leader.

Nadda alleged on X that it is not a secret that Gandhi and his ecosystem have close links with urban Naxals and the deep state who want to “defame, demean and discredit” India.

“‘Hidden no more, Congress’ ugly truth now stands exposed by their own leader,” Nadda said.

“I ‘compliment’ Mr. Rahul Gandhi for saying clearly what the nation knows- that he is fighting the Indian state!” he said, alleging that the Congress has a history of encouraging forces that want to weaken India.

Everything he has done or said has been in the direction of breaking India and dividing our society, Nadda alleged.

Union minister and senior BJP leader Nirmala Sitharaman said, “The LoP, who was sworn in by taking oath on the Constitution, is now saying, ‘We are now fighting the BJP, the RSS and the Indian State itself.’ So, @INCIndia and @RahulGandhi, what for are you carrying a copy of the Constitution in your hand?” Addressing party leaders at Indira Gandhi Bhawan, Gandhi said they are fighting this battle of ideologies under difficult circumstances where institutions have been “captured” by the BJP and the RSS and investigative agencies are being used against opposition leaders.

He also hit out at the Election Commission and alleged there is a “serious problem” with the country’s election system and the poll body needs to come clean on the issue of voter lists in Maharashtra and Haryana elections.

He said the Congress was getting its new headquarters at a time when the RSS chief has stated that India never achieved independence in 1947 and that true independence in India was achieved when the Ram mandir was built.

Bhagwat, he claimed, had said that the Constitution was not the symbol of our freedom.

“Mohan Bhagwat has the audacity to say to the nation what he thinks about the independence movement and the Constitution. In fact, what he said yesterday is treason… Because he is stating that the Constitution is invalid and everything, the fight against the British was invalid.

“He has the audacity to say this publicly. In any other country, he would be arrested and tried. That is a fact,” Gandhi said.

“To say that India did not get independence in 1947 is an insult to every single Indian person. And it is time to stop listening to this nonsense that these people think they can keep parroting out and shouting and screaming,” he said.

“Mohan Bhagwat’s audacious comment that India didn’t gain true independence in 1947 is an insult to our freedom fighters, every single Indian citizen and an attack on our Constitution,” Gandhi later said in a post on X.

The former Congress chief said the party has worked with the Indian people and built the success of this country on the foundations of the Constitution and that is what the new Congress headquarters symbolises.

“It is important that we take ideas from this building and spread them in the rest of the country,” he said.

This building has emerged from the blood of our Congress people and not just Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Patel ji, he noted.

Gandhi said, “We are fighting a civilisational war with these people, they are attacking every day the ideas that we believe in” and asserted that only the Congress can fight the BJP and the RSS.

Noting that everyone in this room is under severe assault defending the ideas of the Congress party, he said, “But these people are facing systematic attack on them”.

The former Congress chief said there is no other party in this country that can stop them. The only party that can stop them is the Congress and there is a reason for it and the reason is that we are an ideological party and our ideology did not emerge yesterday, he said.

Attacking the BJP, he alleged, “People who are in power today do not salute the tricolour, do not believe in the national flag, do not believe in the Constitution. And, they have a completely different vision of India than we do. They want India to be run by a shady, hidden secret society, they want India to be run by one man and they want to crush the voice of this country.” Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge also condemned Bhagwat’s remarks and warned that “it would become difficult for him to move around in the country if he continues to make such statements”.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said Bhagwat’s latest pronouncement is not just astonishing but downright anti-national and he should apologise for his “outrageous” remarks.