Rahul Gandhi came under attack after he said RSS ideology had led to the killing of Mahatma Gandhi.
RSS today dismissed Rahul Gandhi's remarks that Mahatma Gandhi was killed because of its ideology, saying Congress should not give sermons as the party is pursuing a line of thinking that contradicts that of the Father of the Nation and Sardar Patel.
RSS, joined by BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, also targeted Congress for claiming the legacy of Sardar Patel, saying they had forgotten the "national leader" for 60 years and acknowledged his contribution only after BJP highlighted it.
"Let those people not teach us about Sardar Patel's ideology. It is the present day Congress leadership which has completely decimated the ideology of Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel and are following the ideology which is just opposite," RSS spokesman Ram Madhav said.
Taking a dig at Rahul Gandhi, he said the Sangh normally does not react to "kindergarten comments" but the Congress leaders should read history closely.
Though Patel, as Home Minister, had imposed a ban on RSS after assassination of Mahatma Gandhi in January 1948, he had revoked the order within eight months stating that the Sangh had nothing to do with the incident.
Mr Madhav also asked if the party was "ready to accept Sardar Patel's ideology as the Congress ideology?"
He said, "Jawaharlal Nehru, in one Cabinet meeting, had stood up and told Sardar Patel that he was a communalistic person and he cannot work with him. This is the character of Congress".
BJP's prime ministerial candidate and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi also attacked Congress, saying it was remembering the country's first Home Minister "only after" the BJP decided to make the "statue of unity" in his memory in Gujarat.
"It is our achievement that for 60 years when you forgot him, we have forced you to remember him," Mr Modi said.
"For you, Vallabhbhai Patel may be a political leader, but for us he is a national leader. Congress leaders will never be able to understand our feelings for Patel," he added.
Arun Jaitley, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, said that no one in the country had thought of writing a biography on Patel till the Sardar Patel Trust in 1977 asked Mahatma Gandhi's grandson Rajmohan Gandhi to write one, 30 years after independence.
He also appeared to attack the Gandhi family when he said a lot of "planning" is done to build the "glamour and attraction" of a family.
Rahul Gandhi came under attack after he said RSS ideology had led to the killing of Mahatma Gandhi. He also said Mr Modi had nothing to do with the ideology of the Father of the Nation or Sardar Patel.
"He (Modi) has spent his entire life in RSS and has nothing to do with the ideology of Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel. Its (RSS') ideology killed the Mahatma and Patel proposed to ban it after that," he had said.