Rahul Gandhi Alleges Threat to Life Following Comments on Savarkar, Godse’s Relatives Speak Out

Rahul Gandhi Flags Threat to Life in Savarkar Defamation Case, Points to Complainant’s Godse Link.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday told a Pune court that he faces a threat to his life from the complainant in a defamation case stemming from his remarks on Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.

In an application filed before the court, Gandhi said he has “grave apprehensions” about his safety owing to “recent political issues” he has raised and his earlier comments on Savarkar. He alleged that the complainant, Satyaki Savarkar, is a direct descendant of Nathuram Godse — Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin — and Gopal Godse, citing a “documented history of violence and anti-constitutional tendencies” linked to that lineage.

The plea, filed through advocate Milind Pawar, sought to place on record “material facts and grave apprehensions” connected to Gandhi’s security and to the “integrity of these proceedings.” It described the application as a “protective and precautionary measure” aimed at safeguarding the fairness and transparency of the trial amid a charged political climate.

It further claimed there was a “bona fide apprehension” that Satyaki Savarkar might “derive undue advantage from the existing political circumstances” and “exert influence upon” the court, especially as “followers of the complainant’s late so-called grandfather are presently in political power.”

According to the application, Satyaki Savarkar has “categorically admitted” his descent through his maternal lineage from Nathuram and Gopal Godse. The plea described the 1948 assassination of Mahatma Gandhi as “a calculated outcome of a conspiracy rooted in a specific ideology, culminating in deliberate violence against an unarmed person.”

The defamation case relates to Gandhi’s remarks during his Bharat Jodo Yatra rally in Akola, Maharashtra, on November 17, 2022, where he allegedly referred to Savarkar as a “British servant” who received a pension from the colonial government.

Gandhi’s plea also cited other threats, claiming that BJP leaders have targeted him over his “vote chori” allegations. He pointed to two public statements — one from Union Minister Ravneet Singh Bittu, calling him the “number one terrorist of the country,” and another from BJP leader Tarvinder Singh Marwah.

“There exists a clear, reasonable, and substantial apprehension that Rahul Gandhi may face harm, wrongful implication, or other forms of targeting,” the application stated, warning that “history should not be allowed to repeat itself” in reference to Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination.

Satyaki Savarkar had earlier filed the defamation complaint, submitting a CD and transcript of Gandhi’s 2022 speech as evidence of derogatory remarks against V D Savarkar.