Digvijaya Singh shares old photo, praises PM Modi, BJP, RSS

New Delhi: Congress Rajya Sabha member and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh on Saturday shared a 1996 photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with L.K. Advani and praised the BJP and the RSS for promoting ground workers – alluding to PM Modi – to posts like Chief Minister and Prime Minister.

“I found this picture on the Quora site. It is very impactful. In the way the grassroots swayamsevaks (workers) of RSS and the workers of Jan Sangh @BJP4India sit on the floor at the feet of leaders and become the Chief Minister of the state and the Prime Minister of the country. This is the power of the organization. Jai Siya Ram,” Singh said on X.

The post, which spread like wildfire in political circles, coincided with the Congress Working Committee meeting in Delhi, raising doubts if the senior Congress leader intended to send a message to his own party leaders.

The picture shared by Digvijaya Singh and the accompanying message were also tagged to the party’s National President Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and Congress General Secretary and Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

The photo, shared by Digvijaya Singh, documents the rise of PM Modi in Gujarat’s politics. It was reportedly clicked during the swearing-in ceremony of former Gujarat chief minister Shankersinh Vaghela in 1996, attended by top BJP leaders of that time.

The photo showed BJP veteran Advani, seated in a chair, attending the swearing-in ceremony, and PM Modi (then an organisational leader) sitting on the floor, near Advani.

On December 19, Digvijaya Singh made another controversial comment addressed to LoP Rahul Gandhi, calling for reforms in the party.

Suggesting a more pragmatic decentralised functioning of the party, Digvijaya Singh ended the post by saying, “Only problem is that it is not easy to ‘convince’ you!!”

BJP Spokesperson C. R. Kesavan, in a social media message on Saturday, demanded answers from Rahul Gandhi on Digvijaya Singh’s two posts on X.

“Will Rahul Gandhi show courage & react to the shocking Truth Bomb dropped by Shri. Digvijaya Singh’s tweet, which has totally exposed how Congress first family ruthlessly runs the party in a dictatorial manner and also how autocratic & undemocratic this Congress leadership is?” said Kesavan.

IANS