Rahul stands up for party’s core beliefs

As a RSS functionary from Bhiwandi in Maharashtra has sued Congress vice-chief Rahul Gandhi for defamation for saying at an election rally in 2014 that “RSS people shot Gandhiji dead, and now these people speak of Gandhiji”, a brief allusion to history is in order. While the State sentenced Nathuram Godse to death for assassinating Mahatma Gandhi, it didn’t stop there. It could have. An individual had been tried and duly punished. After all, an entire organisation cannot be sent to the gallows.

Nevertheless, then Union home minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel had the RSS banned for about a year and a half and its chief, M.S. Golwalkar, arrested. The home minister didn’t believe the RSS as an organisation was involved in Gandhiji’s assassination, and he informed Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru accordingly. But the Sardar was angry that the RSS had “distributed sweets” when the Mahatma was killed. As compilations of Patel’s correspondence show, he accused the RSS of spreading “communal poison”.

As the home minister told Nehru, it was “a fanatical wing of the Hindu Mahasabha directly under Savarkar that hatched the conspiracy...” Nevertheless, the Sardar believed the “activities of the RSS constituted a clear threat to the existence of the government and the State...” What about Gandhiji’s assassin Was Nathuram from the RSS or Hindu Mahasabha His brother Gopal Godse has said the killer was linked to the RSS. Does it mean he had nothing to do with the Hindu Mahasabha or its leader Savarkar That too is historically incorrect. In truth, in those days, it wasn’t even a muslin curtain that separated the two.

Sardar Patel’s views on the RSS sufficiently show what this outfit thought of the Mahatma. This brings us to the defamation case involving Rahul Gandhi. In his remarks, that have attracted the defamation case, Mr Gandhi has not accused the “RSS”, but the “RSS people” (in Hindi “RSS ke log”). The two are certainly different — the first means the organisation, the second suggests individuals linked to it.

But this is legal defence, which Mr Gandhi initially argued through his counsel Kapil Sibal, but on Thursday he told the Supreme Court that he was ready to face trial, and that he stands by every word he spoke. In doing so, Mr Gandhi has shown courage of conviction, and has undertaken to carry on a political as well as an ideological battle. This is a breath of fresh air. Many have thought for long that while the Congress has traditionally believed in anti-communal politics and has taken a composite view of the evolution of the Indian State and society, it has not always stood up for what it believes. The Congress vice-president’s current stand therefore represents a marker of change.