Anant Hedge's remarks on Mahatma Gandhi is part of RSS strategy, says Harish Rawat

Senior Congress leader Harish Rawat on Tuesday slammed Anant Kumar Hedge's remarks on Mahatma Gandhi and Indian freedom struggle, saying that the statement made by the BJP leader is a part of a well thought out strategy of the RSS.

"Anant Hegde is a testing instrument of RSS. Earlier, he gave a statement that BJP has come to power to change the Constitution. Now you can see with the CAA that they are changing the core of the Constitution. These people are used for what to say against Gandhi and Nehru-Gandhi family so that an environment is created and then they retract the statement," Rawat told ANI.

"It is a theory in which you first attack and then retract the statement. Hegde's statement is a part of a well thought out strategy the by RSS," he said.

Rawat, also the former Uttarakhand chief minister, asked for an apology from the RSS and Prime Minister Narendra Modi over Hedge's remarks.

Earlier, Hegde played down the controversy surrounding his comments on Mahatma Gandhi and said he was only trying to "categorise freedom struggle".

The former Union minister created a controversy on Saturday during an event in Bengaluru when he said that the freedom movement led by Mahatma Gandhi was a "drama".