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‘Immature’: CPI-M Slams Rahul For Equating Left With RSS; BJP Says INDIA ‘Breaking Apart Like Pack Of Cards’
ABP Live News | July 21, 2025 12:11 AM CST

CPI MP P Sandosh Kumar on Sunday slammed Congress MP Rahul Gandhi for comparing Left party and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), calling his statement "immature and apolitical". Reacting to this, BJP leader Shehzad Poonawalla took a swipe at the INDIA bloc, saying that the alliance was breaking apart like a pack of cards in almost every state.

Rahul Gandhi, while speaking in Kerala's Kottayam on Friday, had said that he fights the RSS and the CPI(M) ideologically, but his biggest complaint was their lack of feelings for the people. This statement prompted criticism from several leaders of the CPI (M), which is also a part of the INDIA bloc, formed to challenge the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Reacting to Gandhi's remarks, CPI MP P Sandosh Kumar said that the Congress leader should show some amount of maturity since he is the leader of the INDI Alliance movement. 

"No sensible man can compare RSS with left parties. I don't know what has happened to him. These kinds of immature, apolitical statements must not be done by a leader like Rahul Gandhi. The country is expecting something more from him. Whenever he speaks, he always shows some amount of immaturity and how can he run INDIA Alliance?" he said.

The CPI (M) leader further asked the Congress to take serious note of Gandhi's remarks and went on to allege that the latter is "the most important supplier of cadres to RSS and BJP."

"Most of his colleagues are in BJP who are acting as B-team of Congress in RSS-BJP...His core team, all of them are in BJP now. I can give you a list, including Himanta Biswa Sarma... Almost all these people are supplied by Rahul Gandhi only. So don't compare left and RSS," Kumar added.

CPI(M) leader John Brittas on Sunday launched a scathing attack at the Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, alleging that the state unit of Congress in Kerala has allied with the BJP. 

Brittas said that Gandhi was trying to create confusion amongst "secular forces," instead of making an effort to unite them.

"The main job of the opposition leader should be to unite the secular forces instead of creating confusion and division amongst the secular forces. We feel that he (Rahul Gandhi) would be mature enough to understand the writing on the wall. State unit of Kerala Congress is not actually part of the National Congress, they are part of the BJP alliance in Kerala," Brittas told ANI.

BJP's 'Kushti In Kerala' Jibe At Congress

BJP leader Shehzad Poonawalla on Sunday reacted to the ongoing row between the two INDIA Bloc allies— Congress and CPI (M). 

Reiterating the comments made by CPI (M) MP Sandosh Kumar against Rahul Gandhi, Poonawalla said: "...In Kerala, they are doing 'kushti', in Delhi, they are doing 'dosti'. No wonder the INDI alliance is breaking apart like a pack of cards. There is no INDI Alliance. It was only for ambition, corruption, commission, and obsession with PM Modi. And today see what is happening."

He further went to detail how leaders in several states, including Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal, and TMC chief and Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee among others have been voicing issues over contesting as part of the INDIA bloc.

"Rahul Gandhi and Congress party are the biggest liability for the INDI Alliance partners...They are realising it and calling out the immaturity of Rahul Gandhi. Even his own party people like Shashi Tharoor, exposed and called out the lies and propaganda of Rahul Gandhi, but now apart from the janata, even the allies have no faith in Rahul. 'Rahul se na hopaega' is what they are saying," Poonawalla added.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) General Secretary MA Baby on Friday had also slammed Gandhi for equating the RSS and the Left party. Baby remined the Congress leader that the party could not have formed a government in Kerala in 2004 without the support from Left.

"I do not know whether Mr Rahul Gandhi knows what is the record of Congress in Kerala in fighting the RSS. The very fact that he in a way equated the CPI(M) and RSS betrays the absence of a correct understanding of the role of CPI(M) and RSS in Kerala or India," Baby said in a video statement shared on X.

"We do not have to elaborate how systematically we have been fighting the RSS and BJP," the CPI(M) general secretary added.

The Left Democratic Front led by the CPI(M) and the United Democratic Front led by the Congress are the main opponents in Kerala, while the BJP continues its efforts to expand its presence in the state. 

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