Rahul defamation: Congress think tank 'intellectually bankrupted', says RSS

After Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi withdrew his appeal from the Supreme Court for quashing of the defamation case against him, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) on Friday said that the Congress think tank is "intellectually bankrupted".

"This is historically settled fact that Godse, the accused in Gandhi assassination, had nothing to do with the RSS. This has been set by the court and a commission. The commission was appointed by the Congress regime, which submitted its reports after four years of hard labour. But if Rahul Gandhi is going beyond that then he has to bring some extra new facts. I think it is the intellectual bankruptcy of the Congress think tank. They had neither studied the court's trail nor had they examined the document submitted before the Kapoor Commission," RSS ideologue Rakesh Sinha told ANI.

Commenting on Congress leader Kapil Sibal's statement, where he said that a true Hindu could have never killed Mahatma Gandhi, Sinha termed it a "very dangerous situation", saying indicating the case identity or religious identity of a person is an indicative of violent polarisation.

"It is very dangerous. He evoked the religion of Nathuram Godse. This was the same social philosophy of the Congress, which led in 1984 a communal riot and thousand of Sikhs were killed by the Congress men after the killers of Indira Gandhi was identified as Sikhs," he alleged.

Earlier today, Rahul Gandhi withdrew his appeal from the Supreme Court over his remarks that the RSS was responsible for Mahatma Gandhi's assassination.

Sibal, who appeared for Gandhi, told the apex court that Rahul stands by his statement-"RSS ke logon ne Gandhi ji ko goli mari".

"He will not withdraw his words and is ready to face trial," Sibbal told the apex court.

Meanwhile, the top court refused to grant Gandhi exemption from personal appearance before lower court in the case.

Sibbal had on August 24 told the Supreme Court that Rahul never accused the RSS as an institution that carried out the crime.

"'RSS ke logon ne hatya ki' is entirely different from 'RSS had killed Mahatma Gandhi," Sibbal had told the apex court.

The RSS, the ideological mentor of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) filed a defamation case against Rahul Gandhi for his speech at a rally in Bhiwandi, Maharashtra in 2014.

Gandhi moved the Supreme Court in May 2015 seeking a stay on the Bombay High Court order dismissing his plea for quashing the defamation case.

On July 19, the apex court remarked against Gandhi for indulging in 'collective denunciation' against an organisation and said it's wrong.

It said the Rahul Gandhi might have to face a trial to prove his defence that his statement was an assertion of a historical fact.