Rahul’s U-turn on RSS, Gandhi murder

In a reversal of stand, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi informed the Supreme Court on Thursday that he stands by his comment on the RSS’ alleged role in the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi and that he would face a trial in the defamation case filed by the saffron organization. Rahul’s lawyer in the case, Kapil Sibal, withdrew his plea for the quashing of the defamation case against Rahul.

On March, 6, 2014, Rahul had said, “In logo ne mara unhe… RSS ke logo ne Gandhi ji ko goli maari, aur aaj unke log Gandhi ji ki baate karte hain.” An incensed RSS filed a defamation suit against him.

Earlier, on August 24, Rahul sounded conciliatory towards the RSS. He told the court that he had never accused the RSS as an institution that killed Mahatma Gandhi.

Quite expectedly, the Congress supported Rahul’s position that he would face the trial. Addressing a press conference, party spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said, “We believe that no case of defamation is made out and the summoning order is incorrect. But this is a smaller issue. The larger issue is the battle of ideologies.”

Surjewala said that Nathuram Godse, Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin, was a follower of the RSS ideology. “We have sufficient historical evidence to back the facts.”