Bardoli: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday launched a blistering attack on Narendra Modi, slamming him for his roots in RSS “whose ideology killed Mahatma Gandhi” and debunking his claims of development in Gujarat.

Congress’s chief campaigner for Lok Sabha elections also accused Modi, BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate, of “empowering himself” and his disregard for transparency in governance.

“He (Modi) has spent his entire life in RSS and has nothing to do with the ideology of Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel. Its (RSS’) ideology killed the Mahatma and Patel proposed to ban it after that,” Rahul said addressing a rally here.

Targeting Modi over his alleged attempts to ‘appropriate’ Patel’s legacy by constructing the ‘Statue of Unity’ of India’s first Home Minister, billed to be the world’s tallest, he said, “Patel had called RSS a poisonous ideology which will destroy India’s soul. Patel devoted his life to Congress and the poor.

“They (BJP leaders) don’t even think about what Patel’s ideology was. Never read about him. Never try to understand him and now they want to build his statue,” he said.

Patel had successfully led Bardoli Satyagrah in 1928 against 30 per cent increase in taxes on farmers of the region ravaged by drought.

Rahul, apparently seeking to contain an adverse political fallout of senior Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar’s ‘chai wala’ jibe against Modi, said all people should be respected but attacked the Gujarat Chief Minister for repeated reference to his humble origin.

“The whole country does something or the other. One makes tea, the other drives taxi and another does farming. We should respect all but not the one who makes fool of people,” he said.