SC raps Rahul over RSS remarks, Cong says he won’t apologise

The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi to express regret for his comments holding the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) responsible for Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination or be ready to face a defamation trial. A bench led by Justice Dipak Misra reminded his counsel that the constitutional validity of criminal defamation has been upheld to ward off anarchy in the society and those making offensive statements must face trial now. 

The court’s observation came on Gandhi’s petition for quashing the criminal case lodged against him for his comments against the RSS during a Thane rally in March 2014. “RSS people killed Gandhiji and today their people (BJP) talk of him...They opposed Sardar Patel and Gandhiji,” Rahul had said while addressing a public rally in Thane district in March 2014. 

“Why did you make a sweeping statement against the RSS branding everyone associated with the organisation in the same brush? You cannot collectively denounce a group,” said the bench. “We have held it may be historically correct but the fact or the statement has to meet the test of public good. Freedom is not crippled or curbed. What is curbed is freedom of speech. What the writers, politicians, critics or antagonists say, you must have great magnitude to swallow,” a bench comprising Justices Dipak Misra and RF Nariman said.  The bench also questioned the speech made by Rahul and wondered “why he made a speech quoting wrong historical fact”. 

Rahul’s counsel sought to justify his remarks and said whatever was said in the speech was on the basis of government records and on the basis of decision of Punjab and Haryana High Court and he was not referring to RSS directly. The bench after perusing the judgment of Punjab and Haryana High Court, said it only says that Nathuram Godse was an RSS worker and added that Godse killed Gandhi and RSS killed Gandhi are two different things. “You have gone a way ahead and you can’t make collective denunciation,” it said.

Reacting to the court order Sangh’s national spokesperson Manmohan Vaidya said that, “the party had been consistently trying to spread lies and baseless allegations about RSS. Today’s SC ruling has exposed the Congress.” Meanwhile, Congress immediately responded to the Supreme Court’s observation and said that Rahul Gandhi will not tender an apology.  “On a suggestion of Rahul Gandhi expressing regret or apology, the question does not arise. Such a suggestion has been made in the past and not accepted by Rahul Gandhi. He is a mature politician with intimate knowledge of historical facts,” Congress’ chief spokesman Randeep Surjewala said.