NEW DELHI: The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has come out strongly against being linked to Mahatma Gandhi's assassination in the commemorative volume the Congress has brought out to mark its 125 years since formation, and said a "lie" was being perpetuated for political ends.
The two-part book "Congress and the Making of the Indian Nation", edited by senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee, says in a chapter on the Nehru era that Gandhi was shot dead by Nathuram Godse, a member of the Hindu Mahasabha and the RSS.
RSS spokesman Ram Madhav told IANS Thursday that the Congress had done some soul searching in the book and it should do the same about facts relating to Mahatma Gandhi's killing.
"It is a very old mischief that they (Congress) are indulging in. It is a lie that they have been perpetuating for years for political ends," Madhav said.
Madhav said that Godse left RSS in mid-1930s. "To say that he was an RSS member is to only project a lie for political intentions," he said, adding that the organisation was being maligned deliberately.
The RSS spokesman said that there were court judgments to prove "that RSS had nothing to do with Gandhiji's murder."
Asked if the RSS would take legal recourse on the issue, Madhav remained non-committal.
"We will see the publication and then decide," he said.