GUWAHATI: Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi will appear before a Guwahati court on Thursday in response to its summons and in connection with a criminal defamation suit filed against him by the RSS.
The case was filed over his controversial remarks that he was denied entry into the Barpeta Satra by the RSS last year. The Pradesh Congress Committee has confirmed Gandhi’s court appearance.
“He will land in Guwahati around 9am and then proceed to the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM), Kamrup. After his appearance in the court, he will briefly address party supporters at a place close to the court premises. Later, he will visit the Rajib Bhavan where will interact with a group of party leaders and fly back to Delhi,” Congress leader Apurba Bhattacharya told Express.
An RSS volunteer, Anjan Bora, had filed the case claiming that Gandhi had tarnished the image of RSS.
In his petition, Bora had claimed that a lot of people, including women and elected leaders of the Satra, kept waiting for Gandhi’s arrival but he did not turn up. He alleged that the Congress leader’s claim that the “RSS people” prevented his entry into the 16th century Vaishnavite monastery had brought down the image of the RSS.
The court examined several witnesses, including elected members of the Satra. Gandhi had kick-started the Congress’
Assam poll campaign with a foot march in Barpeta on December 12 last year. When he reached the western Assam town in a chopper from Guwahati, he drove to the Satra to offer his prayers but did not enter it on seeing a group of women singing religious songs in front of its main entrance.
He went back but paid a visit to the Satra later on that day at the end of the foot march and a rally which he addressed. Two days later in Delhi, he levelled the charge against the RSS.
“When I went to Assam, I wanted to visit a temple in Barpeta but the RSS people stopped me from entering it,” he had alleged. He also alleged that the RSS had assigned the women to prevent his entry.