The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh on Saturday dissociated itself from a controversial article published in its Malayalam mouthpiece that Nathuram Godse should have targeted Jawaharlal Nehru instead of Mahatma Gandhi as he was responsible for Partition, a view that came under attack from political parties.
"RSS strongly condemns the controversial article published in 'Kesari' Malayalam journal in Kerala on October 17, 2014. The views published therein are exclusively that of the writer and the RSS has nothing to do with it," RSS's national prachar pramukh anmohan Vaidya said in a statement.
The RSS statement in the wake of a newspaper report on the on the article written by Gopalakrishnan, a BJP candidate in the recent Lok Sabha elections in Kerala, in the latest issue of "Kesari" in which he had also said Nehru never had any genuine attachment with the Father of the Nation.
Vaidya said the RSS, as a movement, has always condemned any kind of violence in thought or action and hence does not subscribe to the views expressed by Gopalakrishnan.
"We, as a movement, not only dissociate ourselves from such views but also deplore them. RSS has always condemned any kind of violence in thought or action in the strongest possible words," Vaidya further said.
The Congress in Kerala also expressed strong resentment against the article.
On getting a complaint seeking action from KPCC General Secretary Sooranad Rajasekharan, state Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala has asked DGP K S Balasubraniam to examine the issue and take action, if necessary.
The Editor of the weekly, however, stood by the article and stoutly refuted Congress' allegations.
Taking strong exception to the article, KPCC president V M Sudheeran said this was yet another attempt of the Sangh Parivar to distort history and denigrate Nehru.
Reacting to the charges, Editor of Kesari N R Madhu said this was a sheer distortion of facts by the Congress leaders with political motives.
"This is not for the first time we are criticising Nehru's policies and approaches to vital issues including the partition. But nowhere the article has even remotely suggested that Nehru should have been physically targeted," Madhu told PTI.
He said this was a ploy by the Congress leaders to show that they were more vehement in opposing the RSS and the BJP than the CPI-M.
"The CPI-M has been accusing the Congress of being soft towards the RSS after the Oommen Chandy government decided to go in for a CBI inquiry into the murder of the Sangh activist Elamthottathil Manoj at Kathirur in Kannur district. Now, the Congress wants to blunt this criticism by seizing and distorting facts," Madhu claimed.
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