A post circulating on social media claims that the Leader of the Opposition of Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, allegedly said people coming out of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) shakhas (centres) cannot understand Mahatma Gandhi and that one must study in a madrasa to truly understand him. Let’s verify the claim made in the post in this article.
Claim: Rahul Gandhi said RSS shakha members cannot understand Mahatma Gandhi, and one must study in a madrasa to do so.
Fact: Rahul Gandhi did not say that one must study in a madrasa to understand Mahatma Gandhi. In a video message on 29 May 2024, he stated that people influenced by the RSS shakha worldview cannot fully understand Gandhi and tend to follow Godse’s ideology. The claim linking him to madrasa study is a digitally altered version of an original post by the Hamara Bharat Facebook page. Hence, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
To verify the claim, we searched online for any evidence of Rahul Gandhi’s statement about RSS shakha members not being able to understand Mahatma Gandhi and that one must study in a madrasa to do so. We found no credible source confirming this. While Rahul Gandhi has previously commented on the RSS and its ideological foundations, no credible reports state that he said understanding Mahatma Gandhi requires studying in a madrasa (here, here, here, and here).
We noticed that the viral post features a Hamara Bharat logo. Searching online, we found a Facebook post by Hamara Bharat dated 02 October 2025 with similar graphics stating that people coming out of RSS shakas cannot understand Mahatma Gandhi. However, it did not mention that understanding Mahatma Gandhi requires studying in a madrasa, confirming that the viral post has been edited using graphics from the original Hamara Bharat post. The comparison can be seen below.
On 29 May 2024, Rahul Gandhi posted a video message on X. In this video, he highlighted that Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy of truth and non-violence inspired global leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, and Albert Einstein. He contrasted this with the ideology of Nathuram Godse, Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin, suggesting that those influenced by the RSS worldview, shaped in its shakhas (branches), align more with Godse’s path than with Gandhi’s principles.
To sum up, Rahul Gandhi did not say that one must study in a madrasa to understand Mahatma Gandhi; the viral post is edited.
