Goa Congress chief sparks row with RSS-Mahatma Gandhi 'killing' link; BJP seeks apology

BJP's former spokesman Giriraj Vernekar wrote on X, "Dear @amitspatkar, I understand you are desperate to save your chair as @INCGoa President. But keep @RSSorg out of your gutter politics."

Panaji: In controversial comments, Goa Congress president Amit Patkar on Thursday alleged that on October 2, the BJP was celebrating the centenary of the organisation which "killed" Mahatma Gandhi, remarks rejected as shameless lie by the ruling party which sought his apology.

He further claimed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has Mahatma Gandhi on their lips and Nathuram Godse, the assassin of the Father of the Nation, in their hearts. Talking to reporters in Panaji, the Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) chief said, "Today is 2nd October (birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi).

The BJP says we will follow the ideology and preachings of Gandhiji. But the BJP is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the organisation which killed Mahatma Gandhi." The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), established on the Dussehra day in 1925, completed 100 years of its formation on Thursday.

This year, Dussehra has coincided with Gandhi Jayanti. The BJP reacted strongly to Patkar's statements on its ideological mentor and in a post on its Goa unit's official X account, the ruling party demanded an apology from him. "@INCGoa President Amit Patkar, desperate to save his own chair, has stooped to accusing the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh of killing Mahatma Gandhi.

This is a shameless lie and an insult to lakhs of swayamsevaks who have selflessly served Bharat for 100 years," the saffron party asserted. "History, judiciary and every independent inquiry have made it clear: the RSS had no role whatsoever in Gandhi's assassination. Amit Patkar must apologise immediately. His desperation for survival does not give him the license to malign RSS. Goa will never accept politics built on lies and filth," the BJP emphasised.

BJP's former state spokesman Giriraj Pai Vernekar wrote on X, "Dear @amitspatkar, I understand you are desperate to save your chair as @INCGoa President. But keep @RSSorg out of your gutter politics." "Every legal, historical and judicial inquiry has clearly stated there is no proof that RSS as an organisation had anything to do with Gandhi's killing. So stop dragging RSS into your petty street fights with your fellow petty Congressmen. Your fight for survival in Goa Congress doesn't give you the right to defame an organisation that has dedicated 100 years to Bharat," he said.