Bengaluru: Both the BJP and RSS have come out strongly against progressive thinkers and Congress vice president, Rahul Gandhi, for holding right wing organisations responsible for the killing of senior journalist, Gauri Lankesh.
Former Minister, C.T. Ravi, who often criticised Ms Lankesh for her stand on Naxals and the Bababudanagiri dispute, said the allegations against right wing organiaations, especially the RSS, were deliberate and based on preconceived notions by a set of people, including Congress leaders.
“ In the year 2000, when churches were attacked, the then Home Minister, Mallikarjuna Kharge blamed the RSS and it was later proved that the Deendar Anjuman Siddaki was behind the attacks. In 2013, when the bomb blast took place near the BJP head office in Malleshwaram, Chief Minister Sidddaramaiah, who was the then opposition leader, blamed both the BJP and RSS for it,” he recalled, adding, “And now Rahul Gandhi is making baseless and vague allegations against the BJP. I suggest he should lead the SIT probe into Gauri’s killing and arrest the culprits.”
Mr Ravi declared that the BJP and RSS did not support or believe in violence. “The party has demanded a thorough investigation into the matter and wants the culprits to be arrested as early as possible,” he noted.
Co-ordinator of the RSS media wing, Praveen Patavardhan, regretted that it had been now become a habit of the Left parties and the Congress to blame the RSS for any and every crime. “This has happened in earlier cases too. We believe in democracy. Right wing organisations do not go to the extent of eliminating their ideological opponents,” he stressed, maintaining that the Sangh was not responsible for statements of individuals on social media.
