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RSS leader deposes against Kesri in defamation suit

Satyanarain Bansal, president of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's Delhi unit, told a trial court today that Congress president Sitaram Kesri had maligned his organisation by his statement on the Coimbatore serial bomb blasts.

Bansal was recording pre-summoning evidence in the court of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Prem Kumar in a defamation suit. The case will come up again on March 11 when other witnesses will depose.

Bansal said in his deposition that Bharatiya Janata Party president L K Advani was scheduled to address an election meeting in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, on February 14. It was by 'sheer luck' that due to a flight delay, Advani escaped being a victim of the series of bomb explosions that rocked the city on that day claiming more than 60 lives, he said.

Following the incident, the Dravida Munnetra Kazagham government in Tamil Nadu imposed a ban on two fundamentalist organisations in the state and the presidents of both outfits were arrested, Bansal said.

However, Kesri addressed a press conference in New Delhi on February 15 in which he charged the RSS with having a hand in the blasts. This allegation received wide coverage in the electronic and print media, the complainant said.

The Delhi RSS chief also drew the court's attention to Kesri's reported remarks at the news conference when he was replying to a question regarding the ban placed on the two Muslim organisations. Kesri said he did not believe that the 'Muslim brothers' could have done it and also made an oblique reference to what occurred on January 30, 1948 -- obviously he was referring to the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, Bansal said.

Kesri later reiterated his statements causing 'agony' to the RSS, he said, and added that a lot of damage had been done to the RSS's reputation.

The Delhi RSS chief produced 10 newspapers on the coverage given to the controversy surrounding the Congress president's alleged remarks. He also deposited various other papers showing the love and respect that the RSS had for the country and Mahatma Gandhi.

RSS counsel Rajesh Gogna will produce four to five more witnesses present during Kesri's press conference, at the next hearing.

UNI

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