Congress has no right to talk about Sardar Patel: RSS

The RSS Saturday hit back at Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, who had accused the BJP of not understanding Sardar Patel, saying he had no right to speak on the issue since his party had disowned the late leader's ideology.

"Ideally we don't react to kindergarten comments... He (Rahul Gandhi) should read history first," Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leader Ram Madhav told TV channel Times Now.

"Are they ready to accept Sardar Patel's ideology as Congress' ideology? They have given up the ideology of Sardar Patel and Mahatma Gandhi," he claimed.

Reacting to Gandhi's comment that Patel banned the RSS in the wake of the Mahatma's assassination, Madhav said the ban was lifted after eight months.

"Patel did ban the RSS but within eight months he revoked the ban saying RSS had nothing to do with the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi," he added.

Gandhi, addressing a rally at Gujarat's Bardoli - where Patel achieved prominence by leading a major civil disobedience campaign in 1928 against the then British rule - made scathing but indirect attack on the RSS, saying a "poisonous mentality killed Mahatma Gandhi".