Nathuram Godse

New Delhi, Oct. 25: The Congress has reacted with outrage to a BJP functionary’s article in an RSS mouthpiece that appears to suggest that Nathuram Godse should have targeted Jawaharlal Nehru rather than Mahatma Gandhi.

The October 17 edition of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s Malayalam weekly, Kesari, had carried the write-up by B. Gopalakrishnan, who contested the recent Lok Sabha elections from Kerala on a BJP ticket.

While the Sangh’s national spokesperson “condemned” and disowned the article, the magazine’s deputy editor stood by its anti-Nehru content while denying it carried any suggestion that Nehru should have been physically targeted.

Congress leaders said they had anticipated that the Sangh and the BJP would distance themselves from the controversy but argued that the article’s appearance in a Sangh mouthpiece had revealed the two organisations’ “true face”.

Party communications chief Ajay Maken accused the Sangh of shamelessness and the article of barbarism.

“It is difficult to find this kind of a perverse discourse anywhere except the darkest corner of a bankrupt mind that the RSS and BJP thrive upon,” Maken said in a statement.

“The RSS mouthpiece shamelessly published the hate piece, which was barbaric and illegal.”

Congress leaders said such discourse had become commonplace despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s claim of being committed to the politics of development. Maken urged the BJP to make its stance clear immediately and suggested that silence would “only point towards their complicity”.

A PTI report quoted Sangh spokesperson Manmohan Vaidya as saying: “(The) RSS strongly condemns the controversial article…. The views are exclusively that of the writer…. We, as a movement, not only dissociate ourselves from such views but also deplore them.”

Kesari chief editor J. Nanda Kumar too insisted that the author’s views were his own. But PTI quoted deputy editor N.R. Madhu as saying that “nowhere has the article even remotely suggested that Nehru should have been physically targeted”.

A paragraph in the article that has sentences with somewhat complicated syntax says: “In reality, Jawaharlal Nehru’s selfishness was responsible for all national tragedies such as the Partition and the assassination of Gandhi. If Godse’s arguments are honestly examined, pre-Partition historical documents are vetted and students of history evaluate whether Nathuram Vinayak Godse’s aim went awry (“unnam thetti poyo”), it cannot be disputed.”

“Unnam thetti poyo” can also be loosely interpreted as a query whether the wrong target was hit.

The phrase — usually used in relation to archery and firearms shooting and also in political speeches to mean “targeting” someone — is being seen as particularly incendiary and insensitive as Gandhi was indeed shot dead by Godse.

Ramesh Chennithala, home minister of Congress-ruled Kerala, has asked the state police chief to probe the matter and take action, if necessary.

A Congress statement said the BJP, irrespective of its affiliation to the Sangh, should exercise its constitutional responsibilities against those who spread venom and violence.

Congress general secretary Shakeel Ahmed said the article had raised “two basic questions”.

“One, the RSS wanted India’s first Prime Minister killed soon after Independence; and two, the RSS did not train Godse properly,” Shakeel said.

“They should have briefed Godse about the correct target. After all, Godse was trained in their school of thought.”

Party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said: “It is painful that the RSS ideologue said something such as this, something so disgusting and reprehensible. It is time that people understand the true face of the RSS and the BJP. It is even more unfortunate that backers of such people are in power.”

Maken said: “The argument of the BJP leader that Godse should have killed Nehru instead of Gandhi reaffirms that the basic tenets of their ideology are hatred and violence. Their willingness to eliminate the most significant nation-builder tells a lot about the kind of politics the ruling party wants to nurture in the country.”