Gauri Lankesh case: Court summons Rahul Gandhi and Sitaram Yechury for linking murder to BJP-RSS

A Mumbai court has summoned Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and communist leader Sitaram Yechury after a defamation complaint was filed against both of them by a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) worker, Dhrutiman Joshi, for linking the murder of Gauri Lankesh with the ideology of “BJP-RSS”.  

The complaint was filed in 2017 by Dhrutiman Joshi against Rahul Gandhi, his mother and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, the CPI (M) and its General Secretary Sitaram Yechury. According to Financial Express report, Magistrate P K Deshpande directed “process be issued” against Rahul Gandhi and Sitaram Yechury. However, he dismissed complaint against Sonia Gandhi and CPI (M). He maintained that a party could not be held liable for the remarks made by their party members. The next hearing on the matter will be held on March 25.

Gauri Lankesh was killed outside her home Bengaluru’s Rajarajeshwarinagar area in September 2017. A day after her death Rahul Gandhi hinted at the involvement of BJP-RSS in her killing. Linking the BJP-RSS with murder of Gauri Lankesh, he had said, “Anybody who speaks against the RSS/BJP is attacked &even killed. They want to impose only one ideology which is against the nature of India.”

Sitaram Yechury had also said that RSS’ ideology and the RSS men are responsible for Lankesh’s murder.

The opposition’s obsession with RSS is not new. Especially, Rahul Gandhi has been unnecessarily targeting the RSS constantly, dragging the organization into every issue of the day. A day after the unfortunate death of 11 people in the police firing at an anti-Sterlite protest in Tuticorin district of Chennai, Congress President Rahul Gandhi had said that protestors were killed for not following RSS ideology. It’s quite nauseating to see that a person could stoop to such a low that he went to the extent of using an unfortunate incident to pursue his political vulturism. His claims were a blatant lie. 

Earlier when he had accused that RSS was behind Mahatma Gandhi’s killing, the apex court had asked him to apologize for his remarks or face trial in a defamation case. In the run-up to 2014 general elections, he had said, “RSS ke logon ne Gandhiji ko goli mari aur yeh log Gandhiji ki baat karte hain.” RSS worker, Rajesh Kunte had filed the case. Rahul Gandhi refused to apologize for his comments and approached the Supreme Court with the plea to quash the case. However, the Supreme Court declined his request by saying that Rahul Gandhi should not have resorted to “collective denunciation” of an organization and if he did not condemn his remarks then he would have to face the trial. In September 2016, he withdrew his petition and said that he would face the trial.

Before Rahul Gandhi, his political mentor, Digvijay Singh, was suffering from RSS phobia. Digvijay’s diatribes are quoted as copybook cases of verbal diarrhea till date and his obsession with RSS was legendary. Digvijay Singh suffered from chronic RSS phobia and he blamed the RSS for everything that was wrong. From releasing a book about the alleged involvement of RSS in 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks to checking RSS’ registration papers to calling Arvind Kejriwal an RSS agent, Digvijay Singh’s hatred for RSS knew no bounds. Then 2014 happened and Digvijay Singh quietly faded into oblivion. Looks like Digvijay Singh’s RSS phobia virus has found a new host in Rahul Gandhi.