THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With resentment brewing against a controversial article in RSS mouthpiece ‘Kesari’ indirectly suggesting that Nathuram Godse should have targeted Jawaharlal Nehru and not Mahatma Gandhi, RSS has come out stating that the organisation has got nothing to do with the views expressed in the controversial article.
Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala has already directed DGP K S Balasubramanian to probe into the issue and take action, if necessary, on a complaint filed by KPCC general secretary Sooranad Rajasekharan.
It was an article by BJP state committee member B Gopalakrishnan that appeared in Malayalam weekly ‘Kesari’’ in the last two issues on October 10 and 17, that triggered the controversy.
As the controversy is raging on the issue, RSS leadership has come out condemning the views expressed in the article published in ‘Kesari.’ ‘‘We always disapproved any thought or act of violence,’’ Dr Manmohan Vaidya, RSS Akhila Bharatheeya prachar pramukh, said in a tweet. ‘’RSS has nothing to do with the views expressed in the controversial article written by B Gopalakrishnan which appeared in Malayalam weekly Kesari.’’ The article written by B Gopalakrishnan, had said that the selfishness of Nehru was the reason for all major national tragedies including partition and the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi.
He had opined that if history students honestly verified the historical facts before partition and also the views of Nathuram Godse, they may arrive at the conclusion that Godse had chosen the wrong target, the article said. Gopalakrishnan, throughout the article, tries to exonerate RSS of having any role in Gandhiji’s assassination. He points out that Godse was not a swayamsewak.
“In his desperation to become world leader, Nehru needed Gandhiji’s name, khadi and cap. Godse was far more fair to Gandhi than Nehru. Godse shot at Gandhi after making a respectful bow. He was not like Nehru who bowed in front but stabbed from behind,’’ the article said. The editor of the weekly, however, stood by the article and stoutly refuted Congress’ allegations.
Reacting to the charges, Kesari editor N R Madhu said this was a sheer distortion of facts by the Congress leaders with political motives.
Speaking to ‘Express,’ B Gopalakrishnan said the entire controversy was based on misinterpretation of his article. ‘‘I have never said that instead of Gandhiji, Nehru should have been targeted. It is the ploy of the Congress and the CPM leadership to misinterpret the article as they don’t want to address the issue raised in the article,’’ he said. Gopalakrishnan said the article approached Gandhiji’s assassination from a historical perspective.
‘‘My focus was that RSS was in no way connected with Gandhiji’s assassination. And Godse had never been a member of the RSS,’’ he said. Gopalakrishnan said he was not the first to say that Nehru also had a role in partition of India. ‘‘Syama Prasad Mukherjee, A B Vajpayee and L K Advani had criticised Nehru for his role in favour of partition. Like Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Nehru also a played a key role in partitioning the country. I stand by my article and object to the misinterpretations of my article,’’ he said.