Rahul Gandhi reading Upanishads, Gita to take on RSS, BJP

Chennai, Jun 5: Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi today said he was reading Upanishads and the Bhagwad Gita to take on the RSS and BJP.

"Nowadays I study the Upanishads and the Gita since I am fighting the RSS and BJP," he said addressing party functionaries here.

"I ask them (RSS men), my friend, you are doing this, you are oppressing people, but it is written in the Upanishad that all people are the same and how come you are contradicting what your own religion says," party sources quoted him as having told them.

He alleged that BJP does not fundamentally "understand India," and "understand only Nagpur," headquarters of the RSS.

Taking potshots at Narendra Modi, he said BJP men were under the impression that the "entire universal knowledge" came out of the Prime Minister.

Gandhi, who has accused BJP-RSS of attempting to thrust one idea on the nation, said every individual, be it in Tamil Nadu or Uttar Pradesh, had a right to express dissent if they were aggrieved, and imposition of one idea was not acceptable.

While expressing his appreciation for people of Tamil Nadu, their language, culture and culinary, "which is a strength for India like other states," Gandhi said he had a special connect with the state.

He also said that "he has decided to start watching Tamil movies," and "read about the culture of Tamil Nadu people."

"Sent an SMS to my sister, I told my sister that I love coming to Tamil Nadu. I don't know ... some how I feel very connected to Tamil people," Gandhi said.

"I wrote (to Priyanka), I love Tamil, Tamils. She wrote back I love them too," he added.

Tamil Nadu Congress Committee President Su Thirunavukkarasar, Congress Legislature Party leader K R Ramasamy were among the functionaries who attended the meeting.

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‘Pay the worker before his sweat dries’: Madras High Court cites Prophet Muhammad’s teaching while ordering settlement of dues

News Network

December 21,2025

Invoking the teachings of Prophet Muhammad—“pay the worker before his sweat dries”—the Madras High Court has directed a municipal corporation to settle long-pending legal dues owed to a former counsel. The court observed that this principle reflects basic fairness and applies equally to labour and service-related disputes.

Justice G. R. Swaminathan made the observation while hearing a petition filed by advocate P. Thirumalai, who claimed that the Madurai City Municipal Corporation failed to pay him legal fees amounting to ₹13.05 lakh. Earlier, the High Court had asked the corporation to consider his representation. However, a later order rejected a major portion of his claim, prompting the present petition.

The court allowed Thirumalai to approach the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) and submit a list of cases in which he had appeared. It also directed the corporation to settle the verified fee bills within two months, without interest. The court noted that the petitioner had waited nearly 18 years before challenging the non-payment and that the corporation could not be fully blamed, as the fee bills were not submitted properly.

‘A Matter of Embarrassment’

Justice Swaminathan described it as a “matter of embarrassment” that the State has nearly a dozen Additional Advocate Generals. He observed that appointing too many law officers often leads to unnecessary allocation of work and frequent adjournments, as government counsel claim that senior officers are engaged elsewhere.

He expressed hope that such practices would end at least in the Madurai Bench of the High Court and added that Additional Advocate Generals should “turn a new leaf” from 2026 onwards.

‘Scandalously High Amounts’

While stating that the court cannot examine the exact fees paid to senior counsel or law officers, Justice Swaminathan stressed that good governance requires public funds to be used prudently. He expressed concern over the “scandalously high amounts” paid by government and quasi-government bodies to a few favoured law officers.

In contrast, the court noted that Thirumalai’s total claim was “a pittance” considering the large number of cases he had handled.

Background

Thirumalai served as the standing counsel for the Madurai City Municipal Corporation for more than 14 years, from 1992 to 2006. During this period, he represented the corporation in about 818 cases before the Madurai District Courts.

As the former counsel was unable to hire a clerk to obtain certified copies of judgments in all 818 cases, the court directed the District Legal Services Authority to collect the certified copies within two months. The court further ordered the corporation to bear the cost incurred by the DLSA and deduct that amount from the final settlement payable to the petitioner.

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