My father lived and died in the service of India: Rahul Gandhi

Breaking his silence over the on-going 'Sacred Games' row, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said that the views of a character in a web-series can never change the fact that his father and former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi "lived and died in the service of India".

Rahul further said in his recent tweet that unlike the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), he believes that freedom of expression is a fundamental democratic right.

"BJP/RSS believe the freedom of expression must be policed & controlled. I believe this freedom is a fundamental democratic right. My father lived and died in the service of India. The views of a character on a fictional web series can never change that. #SacredGames," he tweeted.

The controversy in regard to Netflix series 'Sacred Games' started when a complaint was filed by Rajiv Sinha, a Congress member from West Bengal, alleging that the series was "misrepresenting facts during his (Rajiv Gandhi) regime".

A plea was filed in Delhi High Court seeking to remove questionable portions from the series.

Earlier, BJP's IT cell chief Amit Malviya mocked the Congress on the micro-blogging site by posting a clip from the web series, which showed one of the lead characters Ganesh Eknath Gaitonde, played by Nawazuddin Siddiqui, speaking about the situation after the death of Indira Gandhi and how her son Rajiv Gandhi went on to become the next prime minister and eventually getting involved in the Bofors scandal.

'Sacred Games' is an Indian web television series by Netflix based on Vikram Chandra's 2006 thriller novel. The series was produced in partnership with Phantom Films.

Starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Saif Ali Khan and Radhika Apte, the novel was adapted by Smita Singh, Vasant Nath, and Varun Grover, and all eight, hour-long episodes were directed by Anurag Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane.