Tushar Gandhi says ‘will not apologise’ for his remarks on RSS

Tushar Gandhi refuses to apologize for calling RSS a "cancer to the soul of the nation" in Kerala event.

Tushar Gandhi, the great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, said on Friday (March 14, 2025) that he “will not apologise” for terming the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) “a cancer to the soul of the nation.”

“They wanted me to apologise for what I said. They wanted me to retract my statement. I do not do that. Once I say it, I do not believe in retracting it or even apologising for making the statement,” he said at a programme held at the Union Christian College in Aluva, Ernakulam.

He was on the campus to commemorate the centenary celebrations of Mahatma Gandhi’s visit to the institution on March 18, 1925 after participating in the Vaikom Satyagraha.

Mr. Gandhi was detailed by a group of RSS and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) activists allegedly near Neyyattinkara on the outskirts of Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday evening for his comment on the RSS during a speech commemorating the 100th anniversary of Sree Narayana Guru’s historic meeting with Mahatma Gandhi at the Sivagiri Madhom.

Stating that the incident has “strengthened his resolve to continue expose the traitors”, Mr. Gandhi said it was shocking that such an incident was happening in Kerala, where “the rights of people are still protected and it is in the culture of Malayalis to respect the Opposition.”

“We have lived side by side with the Opposition. We never tried to silence each other. We have to protect the soul of Kerala and the spirit of the Malayalis. It is very essential that these kind of poisonous people must be pushed out of Kerala,” he said.

He said that it was a fight that was more essential than the freedom fight. “We have a common enemy now,” he said.