New Delhi : Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh today came to the defence of his party vice-president Rahul Gandhi after critics questioned his apparent U-turn in the Supreme Court on the issue of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh’s involvement in the murder of Mahatma Gandhi.
“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,” Mr Singh wrote in a series of tweets.
On Wednesday in the court, Mr Gandhi drew a distinction between the RSS as an organization, and the actions of individuals associated with the RSS. While refusing to apologise Mr Gandhi said his comments were misinterpreted by the RSS worker who filed the defamation case against him.
Senior advocate and Congress leader Kapil Sibal, while defending Mr Gandhi in court, had cited portions of an earlier affidavit filed in the Bombay High Court, in which Mr Gandhi had clarified that he didn’t blame the RSS as an organization, but only an individual associated with the RSS for killing the Father of the Nation.
In March 2014, while addressing an election rally in Thane’s Bhiwandi, Mr Gandhi had said, “RSS people killed Gandhiji, and today their people talk of him. They are opposed to Sardar Patel and Gandhiji.”
The complainant in the case, Rajesh Kunte, who is also the general secretary of RSS’ Bhiwandi unit, has asked that Mr Gandhi’s statement – that he did not denounce the RSS as a whole – be recorded and that he would then consider dropping charges.
PTI