Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Sunday said he was reading Hindu texts like the Upanishads and Bhagwad Gita to fight the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the Bharatiya Janata Party, reported PTI. Gandhi was in Chennai on Sunday to be a part of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief Karunanidhi’s 94th birthday celebrations where several Opposition leaders came together for a show of unity.

“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 religion says,” he was quoted as saying by PTI. He said the Opposition in Tamil Nadu was united in fighting against the BJP and the RSS.

Taking a dig at the RSS, which is headquartered in Nagpur, Gandhi said the BJP did not fundamentally “understand India”, but only understood Nagpur. He further said the BJP members believed that “the entire universal knowledge” came out of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Congress scion claimed that he felt a “special connection” with Tamil Nadu and its people. He said he had sent a text message to his sister, Priyanka Gandhi, saying he loved Tamil people. “She wrote back I love them too,” he said. The Congress vice president met Karunanidhi on Sunday and showered praises on him. “When he [Karunanidhi] speaks, it is not only Karunanidhiji speaking, it is the voice of the people of Tamil Nadu,” he said according to ANI.