Facing flak over ‘RSS illiterate’ remark, Kumar Vishwas issues clarification

Renowned poet Kumar Vishwas is facing flak from the BJP and its ideological fountainhead Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh after he called RSS members “illiterate.” During an event in Madhya Pradesh’s Ujjain, Vishwas recalled an incident where a RSS worker asked him about the nature of the Budget.

“A boy who works with the RSS asked me how the budget should be. I said that you have formed the government of Ram Rajya (Lord Ram’s rule), so the Budget would also be alike,” said Vishwas.

“There was no Budget in Ram Rajya, said the boy, to which I said ‘This is your problem. While the leftists are kupadh (ill-informed), and you are anpadh (illiterate). There is a fight between only two kinds of people in this country — One are leftist, who are ill-informed. They have studied everything but have studied wrongly; And the other one is [RSS], they haven’t studied at all,” he told the audience.

BJP leader Lokendra Parashar reacted strongly to his remarks, saying this “arrogance will be the cause of your downfall.”

Kumar Vishwas later issued a clarification saying his words were misinterpreted, according to an India Today report. In a video, Vishwas said that he was talking about a boy who works in his office and, coincidentally, is also an RSS worker.

“He studies less and speaks more. I told him that he should study. I said’Leftists are ill-informed and you are illiterate’.”

“Forgive me if this episode has entered in some different way in your common sense.”

Vishwas also asked those who threatened to disrupt Kumar Vishwas’s upcoming shows to “keep in mind what kind of people disrupts Ram Katha.”