New Delhi, Jan 30 (PTI) — On Mahatma Gandhi’s death anniversary, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Friday cited two letters written in 1948 by Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel to Syama Prasad Mookerjee, in which both leaders strongly criticised the activities of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Hindu Mahasabha.
Ramesh, the Congress general secretary in charge of communications, said Nehru wrote to Mookerjee two days before Gandhi’s assassination, while Patel addressed a separate letter to him on July 18, 1948.
“Both are damning indictments of the self-declared custodians of nationalism,” Ramesh said in a post on X. He added that it was revealing that a Lok Sabha MP aligned with that ideology had earlier said he could not choose between Mahatma Gandhi and Nathuram Godse, an apparent reference to controversial remarks made by BJP MP Abhijit Gangopadhyay in 2024.
Ramesh also shared a link to Nehru’s All India Radio address delivered on the night of January 30, 1948, following Gandhi’s assassination.
In his letter, Nehru accused the Hindu Mahasabha of holding meetings in defiance of prohibitory orders in Pune, Ahmednagar and Delhi.
“Speeches were delivered that Mahatma Gandhi was an impediment and the sooner he died the better it would be for the country…. The RSS has behaved in an even worse way and we have collected a mass of information about its very objectionable activities,” Nehru wrote.
Ramesh also shared excerpts from Patel’s letter to Mookerjee, in which the country’s first home minister criticised the functioning and conduct of the RSS and the Hindu Mahasabha in the aftermath of Gandhi’s assassination.
Mahatma Gandhi, the foremost leader of India’s freedom movement, was assassinated by Nathuram Godse on this day in 1948. PTI
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