Rahul Gandhi Claims Savarkar-Godse "Blood Relation" In Defamation Affidavit

Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has claimed that Hindutva ideologue Vinayak Savarkar was a relative of Mahatma Gandhi's killer, Nathuram Godse. Mr Gandhi has said this in an affidavit filed in a Pune court after Savarkar's grandnephew sued the Congress leader for defamation. Mr Gandhi has accused Satyaki Savarkar of deliberately concealing his maternal lineage that links him to Godse.

Satyaki Savarkar said in his complaint against Mr Gandhi that he is a grandson of Savarkar's brother Narayan Savarkar.

"As per information, mother of complainant Smt. Himani Ashok Savarkar was born on 31/03/1947 and died on 11/10/2015 at Pune. Late Smt. Himani Ashok Savarkar is daughter of Gopal Vinayak Godse, younger brother of Nathuram Vinayak Godse, who killed father of nation Mahatma Gandhi on 30/01/1948 and was hanged along with his accomplice Narayan Apte On 15/11/1949," Mr Gandhi has said in his affidavit. Himani Savarkar, the affidavit says, was a Hindutva activist and married to Ashok Savarkar, nephew of Vinayak Savarkar.

The affidavit points out that Vinayak Savarkar was a co-accused in the Gandhi assassination case, but was acquitted. "The grandfather of complainant Gopal Godse was also convicted accused in murder of Mahatma Gandhi. These are the historical(ly) important facts and movements behind this case," the affidavit says, adding that the complainant's maternal family tree is important.

"That it is the settled position and principle in law if a party does not come to the court with clean hands, they are not entitled to be heard or granted any type of relief. This principle serves to protect the integrity of the judicial process from unscrupulous litigants," Mr Gandhi has said in his affidavit.

"That suppression or concealment of material fact from the court is a serious issue, considered as a fraud on the court, and can lead to dismissal of a case or denial of relief. Suppressing material facts means intentionally withholding or misrepresenting information that is relevant to a legal case," the affidavit says, adding that the "complainant has deliberately suppressed material".

"Savarkar family and Godse family are in blood relation. When both families are having history, which will decide the contribution, reputation, status and image in the country of both the families," he said.

Mr Gandhi has said in the affidavit that the complainant, Satyaki Savarkar, provided only the family tree for his paternal side, and not the maternal side, to mislead the court.

Satyaki Savarkar, grandnephew of the Hindutva icon, has filed a complaint against Mr Gandhi for an address in London in March 2023. He has alleged that Mr Gandhi claimed that Savarkar wrote in a book that he and some of his friends once beat up a Muslim man and felt happy. The complainant has said no such incident took place and Savarkar did not write anything like this. The complaint terms Mr Gandhi's allegation fictitious, false, and malicious.