NEW DELHI: Rahul Gandhi may be cleared of defamation charges after the Congress vice president backtracked today and told the Supreme Court he never meant to accuse the whole of the RSS of assassinating Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi.The defamation case against the Congress vice president may just be dropped, because of Rahul recanting. The RSS activist who filed the criminal defamation case had offered to withdraw the case against Rahul if he absolved the RSS of the assassination. "Rahul Gandhi never accused the RSS as (an) institution for the crime," the Congress vice president's counsel, Kapil Sibal, told the court.The court said the inference from Rahul's statement is that he never accused the RSS as an institution for Gandhi's assassination. "Rahul never blamed the RSS but blamed a person associated with the RSS," the court said it inferred from Rahul's affdavit.Nevertheless, the top court scheduled the next hearing for September 1, after the RSS activist's counsel U R Lalit sought time to get further instructions from his client.Rahul had made these accusations during a Thane rally in March 2014. "RSS people killed Gandhiji and today their people (BJP) talk of him...They opposed Sardar Patel and Gandhiji," Rahul had said then.Today, though, he said quite the opposite.On July 19, the Supreme Court told Rahul to express regret for his comments holding the RSS responsible for Gandhi's assassination or be ready to face a defamation trial.

Source: Times of India August 24, 2016 09:54 UTC