Don't twist statement, apologise: RSS to Rahul

A day after Rahul Gandhi told the Supreme Court that he never blamed the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh as an institution for killing Mahatma Gandhi but persons associated with it, RSS ideologue M G Vaidya on Thursday said that the Congress vice president must explain in what sense the assassins were associated with the organisation.

"If he now says the RSS was not involved, but the people who were involved in Gandhiji’s murder were RSS-affiliates, then he must come clean on his statement that in what sense they were associated with the RSS and what was their position and credential in the organisation,” said the RSS patriarch.

"He is twisting it now. He must show his generosity by offering apology for his statement and should accept before the court that what he had said was wrong,” the former RSS spokesperson and ideologue said.

Stating that somebody might have been associated with the RSS prior to Gandhiji’s murder, Vaidya sought to know from Rahul if the assassin was still a part of the organisation when Gandhiji was murdered?

“Leave aside some official post; whether he (the assassin) was even an ordinary activist of the RSS, he (Rahul) must come out clean on these things,” he stated.

“The fact is that he has made a mistake, which he should accept with generosity and should apologise for that,” Vaidya added.

When told that Rahul had refused to apologise, Vaidya said, “If that’s the case, why did he take so much time to clarify his statement? If he apologises, it will enhance his stature in people’s eyes. A person who is holding such an important post of Congress vice president should be generous, at least.”

Following Rahul’s submission, a bench comprising Justices Dipak Misra and R F Nariman said if the complainant agrees to the submission, it will take the statement on record and dispose of the petition.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the Congress vice president, cited the affidavit filed before the Bombay high court, saying he had only accused certain people of the RSS and not the organisation as the killer of Mahatma Gandhi.

In his complaint, RSS Bhiwandi secretary Rajesh Mahadev Kunte alleged that Rahul told in an election rally in Sonale on March 6 last year that ‘the RSS people killed Gandhiji’.

He alleged that the Congress leader had sought to tarnish the reputation of the RSS through his speech.

The case is pending before a magisterial court in Bhiwandi in Maharashtra’s Thane district.