Not RSS, Congress` ideology killed Mahatma Gandhi: BJP

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: Hitting out at Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi`s comments that Bharatiya Janata Party`s (BJP) prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi`s roots lie in RSS "whose ideology killed Mahatma Gandhi", RSS spokesperson Ram Madhav on Saturday dubbed the allegations as baseless, saying, “We do not react to kindergarten comments. He (Rahul Gandhi) should read history first.” “The people who are accusing us of killing Mahatma Gandhi`s ideology are the ones who have killed it,” Madhav said. "Are they ready to accept Sardar Patel`s ideology as Congress` ideology? They have given up the ideology of Sardar Patel and Mahatma Gandhi," he claimed. Reacting to Gandhi`s comment that Patel banned the RSS in the wake of the Mahatma`s assassination, Madhav said the ban was lifted after eight months. "Patel did ban the RSS but within eight months he revoked the ban saying RSS had nothing to do with the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi," he added. On Rahul`s take that BJP leaders don`t even think about what Sardar Patel`s ideology was and never read about him or tried to understand him and now they want to build his statue, Madhav said, “Aaj inko (Congress) achanak Sardar Patel yaad aa gaye? Jab wo jivit the tabhi unki vichaar dhara ko tyaag dia tha inhone. (Suddenly out of the blue they`ve remembered Patel today. As long as he was alive Congress had shunned his ideologies),” he added. Earlier in the day, Rahul Gandhi accused Modi of of "empowering himself" and his disregard for transparency in governance. "He (Modi) has spent his entire life in RSS and has nothing to do with the ideology of Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel. Its (RSS`) ideology killed Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel proposed to ban it after that," Rahul said addressing a rally in Gujarat. BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi criticised Rahul for attacking party`s ideologies, saying, “Agar kisi ne Mahatma Gandhi ke vichaardhara ki hatya ki hai to wo Congress hai.” (If someone has killed Mahatma Gandhi`s ideologies that is Congress). Further on the comments of Congress`s chief campaigner for Lok Sabha elections that `one makes tea, the other drives taxi and another does farming but all deserve to be given respect barring one who makes fool of people`, BJP leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy said, “Rahul ji talks without knowledge. He can take a dig at us but we are happy that our PM candidate was once a tea-seller.” BJP leader Sudhanshu Trivedi also took a dig at Rahul and said,“Desh ko pata hai kaun kisko ullu bana raha hai.” (The country knows who is making a fool out of whom.) Targeting Modi over his alleged attempts to `appropriate` Patel`s legacy by constructing the `Statue of Unity` of India`s first Home Minister, billed to be the world`s tallest, Rahul had today said, "Patel had called RSS a poisonous ideology which will destroy India`s soul. Patel devoted his life to Congress and the poor. "They (BJP leaders) don`t even think about what Patel`s ideology was. Never read about him. Never try to understand him and now they want to build his statue," he said. Senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley too reacted over Congress VP`s direct attack on BJP`s PM candidate saying that, “The power of democracy of this country will show when a person from a weak section of the society will become PM.”