Firing a fresh salvo at the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said its followers did not participate in the freedom struggle and that people who want to "divide" the country "are now posing as nationalists".
The remarks by the Congress vice president came on a day when he told the Supreme Court that he stood by every word he had said about the RSS being behind the killing of Mahatma Gandhi.
"The RSS people did not participate in freedom struggle. Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians...everyone did. But not the RSS," he said after inaugurating an intermediate school in his Amethi Lok Sabha constituency.
"Those very men who want to divide the country, those who salute their own flag and never hoist the tricolour at their own organisation, are now posing as nationalists. These people are cowards. They turn around and run away when anyone face them (confronts them)," he said.
"I stand by each and every word. I will never take my words back. I stood by it yesterday, I stand by it today and I will stand by it in future as well. I am ready to go to the trial," senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Rahul, submitted in the Supreme Court earlier on Thurday.
The Congress vice president had told a rally in Bhiwandi near Mumbai during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls that the RSS people had assassinated Mahatma Gandhi following which a local Sangh functionary had filed a defamation case against him for allegedly tarnishing the image of the organisation.
