“I will never stop fighting hateful and the divisive agenda of RSS. I stand by every single word I said,” Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi said in a tweet on Thursday. Mr. Gandhi is accused of having blamed the RSS for the killing of the Mahatma, during his campaign for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections
A YouTube video titled “RSS People Killed Gandhiji : Rahul Gandhi in Bhiwandi” was posted along with the tweet. In the video Mr. Gandhi is seen saying: “ RSS ki logon ne Gandhiji ko goli mari. Aur aaj unke log Gandhiji ke bath karte hain. Sardar Patel Congress party ki net ate. Unhon ne RSS ke bare me saaf sutra likha hai. Un ke sanghatan ke bare me saaf sutra likha hai. Aur aaj Congress party ke netaon ko kehte hain who hamare neta tha . (RSS people killed Gandhi ji . And today their people talk about Gandhi ji. Sardar Patel was a Congress leader. He had written clearly about the RSS and about its organisation. And [now] they tell Congress leaders that he was our leader.”
I will never stop fighting the hateful & divisive agenda of the RSS. I stand by every single word I said >https://t.co/bUWzTHrgHW
— Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) >August 25, 2016
The 49-second clip was posted online by the Indioan National Congress on August 25, 2016.
The comments come a day after >Mr. Gandhi told the Supreme Court that he had never accused the RSS> as an institution for the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, but only those associated with it.
Tweet after Venkaiah's comments
Before Mr. Gandhi’s tweet, Information and Broadcasting Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said in the morning that wisdom had prevailed upon the Congress vice president.
“Good, Rahul finally admitted before Supreme Court that RSS is not accused in the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi.
“Wisdom has prevailed. It may be a U-turn but a good turn. RSS a patriotic organization. RSS — Ready for Self Service anywhere any time,” Mr. Naidu tweeted.
Mr. Gandhi , on Wednesday chose to set the records straight by telling the top court that he had never blamed RSS as an institution for killing Mahatama Gandhi but persons associated with it were behind the assassination.
He buttressed his stand by citing paragraphs from his affidavit filed in the Bombay High Court, while challenging the summons issued to him as an accused for his alleged defamatory statement in a 2015 election rally in Maharashtra.
Senior advocate and Congress leader Kapil Sibal, appearing for Rahul Gandhi, cited the affidavit filed before the High Court saying he had only accused certain people of RSS and not the organisation as the killer of Mahatma Gandhi.
“I never made the statement that RSS killed Mahatma Gandhi but persons associated with the RSS killed him,” the senior advocate had told the Court.
No U-turn, says Digvijay
Earlier today, Congress leader Digvijay Singh had dismissed suggestions that Mr. Gandhi has made a U-turn in the Supreme Court on the RSS and said the party vice president stands by his assertion that the person who assassinated Mahatma Gandhi was from the organisation.
“No U-Turn by Rahul Gandhi on RSS. He stands by what he said. Person who killed was from RSS. It is the Ideology of hate and violence which killed Mahatma Gandhi”, the Congress General Secretary said in a series of tweets.
An RSS activist filed a defamation case against Mr. Gandhi in the Supreme Court. The court said on Wednesday that Mr.Gandhi “never blamed the RSS as the killer of Gandhi but a person associated with the RSS.”
(With inputs from Special Correspondent)
