Rahul Gandhi's U-turns on RSS role in Mahatma's killing? Actually, he's been consistent all along

The media would have you believe that Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi did a second flip-flop on Thursday, once again going back on his statement at a rally in 2014 that people from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh had assassinated Mahatma Gandhi.

The statement prompted a Sangh activist, Rajiv Kunte, to file a case against Rahul Gandhi, claiming that this was defamatory to the organisation. As the Supreme Court was hearing the case on August 24, Rahul Gandhi's lawyer, Kapil Sibal, told the judge that the Congress vice president had never blamed the RSS for Gandhi's murder.

But earlier this week, the Nehru family scion told the judges that he stood by his statement and was ready to stand trial.

The headlines suggested that it was a second U-turn from Gandhi.

But a careful look at the positions taken by the Congress vice president suggests there hasn't actually been any backtracking.

The statement

At the public meeting in the Maharashtrian textile down in Bhiwandi ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in 2014, the Congress leader had said: "RSS ke logon ne Gandhiji ko goli mari aur yeh log Gandhiji ki baat karte hain" – RSS people shot Gandhi and they now talk of the Mahatma.

When Sibal told the Supreme Court on August 24 that Rahul Gandhi had not accused the RSS as an institution for murdering the Mahatma but people associated with the organisation, this was seen an attempt to hide behind a technicality. Commentators claimed that Rahul Gandhi was making a false distinction between the institution and its people. But they completely missed that the fact that the technicality is crucial in proving defamation and that Rahul Gandhi made the remark at the rally carefully and consciously.

The premise on which Rahul Gandhi made the statement in 2014 was simple. Nathuram Godse shot Mahatma Gandhi on August 30, 1948. His brother Gopal Godse, a co-accused in the assassination case, is on record stating that the brothers were in the RSS and that they grew up in the organisation. The RSS was banned after the assassination.

The Congress has put links to Gopal Godse's interview and other records related to Gandhi's assassination in a prominent position on its website.

From his petition in the Bombay High Court in 2015 to the Supreme Court, Rahul Gandhi did not, at any point, withdraw his original statement that people associated with the RSS had killed the Mahatma. The only change was his decision not to seek that the proceedings be quashed and face trial.

"The RSS is not an official organisation with a registry which maintains records of who comes in and who moves out," Sibal had said, reiterating why the technicality was important. There was enough evidence available in the public domain to establish Nathuram Godse's association with the RSS and reiterating this association cannot be defamation, he added.

A win-win for Rahul

For the RSS, the case presents an opportunity to get yet another "clean chit" from the courts, albeit indirectly, in the Gandhi assassination case. If Rahul Gandhi is convicted, this would mean there is no evidence to link the Sangh to Gandhi's murder. At least that is how the Sangh could be expected to present the victory.

There is also the other possibility. If Rahul Gandhi is acquitted in the case, it would be paraded by the Congress as evidence of the Sangh's culpability. Though this too would be a mere political brownie point and means nothing substantial in legal terms.

Congress officials said that Rahul Gandhi took the option of facing the trial rather than apologising since the outcome of the case would be a "win-win" either way. "If he is found guilty, which we are sure he will not be, it would only mean he stood by his convictions," a party spokesperson said.