The Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan took hardly an hour to counter the young leader's statement. “The comparison is unwarranted and irresponsible. The RSS is a nationalist organisation, committed to high ideals of patriotism”, he said.

During his tour, Rahul Gandhi mainly interacted with youths. In particular, he tried to reach out to the younger sections of the Dalits, Tribals and minorities. He proved to be a major attraction for the younger generation. Young boys and girls turned out in huge numbers in programmes addressed by him. While making an appeal to the youth to join politics in general and the Youth Congress in particular, he made it clear that only those youngsters were welcome into the Youth Congress whose ideology did not confirm to that of SIMI or the RSS. His remarks invoked angry ripostes from the BJP leaders. Besides the Chief Minister, BJP's national spokesperson Prakash Javdekar took cognizance of his remarks and criticised him for placing SIMI and RSS at par. But significantly, no RSS functionary reacted to Rahul Gandhi's remarks.

In fact, the Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan faced the ire of his own partymen for giving “disproportionate importance” to Rahul Gandhi. On the eve of his visit, the Chief Minister announced that Rahul Gandhi would be the State Guest in MP. Not only that, the Chief Minister also declared that all important leaders of opposition parties would be treated as State Guests during their sojourn in the state. This gesture of the Chief Minister raised several eyebrows in his own party. It was contended that it would put unwanted burden on the State exchequer.

Besides his criticism of the RSS, there were other reasons why Rahul Gandhi's visit became a cause of concern for the ruling party. One reason was Rahul Gandhi trying to woo the tribals, dalits, minorities and the youth. Barring the Minorities, the support of all these sections is vital for the ruling party. Moreover, the BJP is worried that Rahul might act a cementing force, uniting the faction-ridden MP Congress. The BJP leadership knows it only too well that one the reasons why it could win the 2008 Assembly elections was the bitter infighting within the Congress.

The Congress leaders, of course, are more than happy with the kind of response Rahul's visit invoked, particularly among the younger generation. Rahul also made his intentions very clear. “Over 70 per cent of voters in this country are below 40 years of age and my mission is to motivate them to join politics”, he said.

“At a time when the entire focus of the youth is at landing up a cushy job in a multinational, Rahulji had the courage to appeal to the youths to join politics”, gushes former Minister Raja Pateria, “And what is more important is that the youth responded to his call in full measure”. (IPA)