Rahul Gandhi arrives at a court in Guwahati in a defamation case filed by RSS volunteer.
Rahul Gandhi paused his roadshow in Uttar Pradesh today to appear in court in Assam's Guwahati in a defamation case filed by an RSS volunteer. "File as many cases as you want, I am happy to fight," he said after the 10-minute hearing that became a show of strength for the Congress.
Mr Gandhi has been sued for accusing the RSS of stopping him from entering a 16th century monastery in Barpeta, around 76 km from Guwahati, last year. Accompanied by former Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and other senior Congress leaders, he arrived in court around 10 am to cheers and slogans.
Moments later, he emerged accusing the BJP and the RSS of "trying to disturb" his kisan yatra or farmer outreach in UP.
"All these cases are being filed against me because it is in my DNA to fight for the poor, the rights of farmers, for unemployed youth who have aspirations but are being denied jobs because the government is working for 10-15 people," he told reporters outside the court.
"But I will not be deterred and I will continue to fight," he added.
In December last, while campaigning in Assam, Mr Gandhi was scheduled to visit the Barpeta Satra monastery before a road show but claimed that some "RSS people" had stopped him from entering the temple.
"I wanted to visit the Barpeta temple. The RSS people stopped me from going into the temple. This is the way BJP operates. They put women in front of me and prevented me from going in," he had said.
The RSS or Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, which is the ideological mentor of the ruling BJP, denied the allegation.
The petitioner, Anjan Bora, has accused Mr Gandhi of insulting women devotees.
Mr Gandhi is fighting another defamation case for linking the RSS with the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi and recently told the Supreme Court that he was ready to face trial in a Maharashtra court.