RSS leader Indresh Kumar invited Rahul Gandhi to attend the meetings.

Highlights Rahul Gandhi said he is reading texts like Gita to counter BJP

If he reads these, he will want to join RSS, says Indresh Kumar

Beef, like tobacco, is bad habit, government must prevent it: Kumar

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi received an invitation today from RSS leader Indresh Kumar to attend the organization's shakhas or meetings. "That will help him learn about India," said Mr Kumar in an interview to NDTV.The RSS or Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh is the ideological parent of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. Mr Gandhi said last week in Chennai that to take on the BJP and its mentor, who are committed to a Hindu nationalist agenda, he is reading texts like the Gita and Upanishads, ancient and sacred texts for Hindus. "If he reads (the texts), he wouldn't want to fight RSS, he will want to befriend RSS. I invite him and all opposition leaders to come to shakhas," said Mr Kumar.

At a time when the BJP is the undisputed dominant political force in the country, the crackdown on abbatoirs, succeeded by a diktat banning the sale of cattle for slaughter at open markets is being seen as a big filip to right-wing hardliner groups and cow vigilantes who have been attacking cattle traders and slaughterhouses. The centre's ban on cattle trade for slaughter has provoked large protests from states including Kerala and several in the North East which say that beef-eating is part of cultural and culinary tradition. Mr Kumar's response to that: "If you have a bad habit, should you continue? It is the government's duty to stop bad habits like tobacco...this is the same thing."