New Delhi, The BJP on Tuesday charged Congress president Rahul Gandhi with resorting to double standard and ‘fancy dress competition’ on Hindutva related issues.
‘Is it not akin to fancy dress competition…that sometimes you say you do not believe in Hindutva and at times, you put on sacred thread and visit temples,’ BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra told reporters here close on the heels of Mr Gandhi’s statement went viral on social and electronic media.
Mr Patra said the Congress president made the remark that he does not believe in Hindutva in a closed door meeting with editors in Hyderabad.
‘Mr Gandhi also said he goes to temples and meets spiritual leaders only when he is invited to do so,’ the BJP spokesperson said, adding the Congress president does not visit temples out of conviction.
In Hyderabad, Mr Gandhi reportedly said that he was not wedded to Hindutva – “soft or hardcore”.
Commenting on whether his party was not adverse to adopting ‘soft Hindutva’ to make the penetration among the voters, Mr Gandhi has been quoted as saying “I don’t believe in any kind of Hindutva, soft or hardcore.”
The BJP leader Mr Patra made opportune use of the occasion and said it is the same Rahul Gandhi who had told a closed door meeting of Muslim intellectuals that the Congress party is ‘pro-Muslim’.
He said while the Congress president may not have faith in Hindutva, but he seems to have faith in Bangladeshi immigrants and Rohingya refugees.
Mr Patra also said wayback in 2008 itself, Mr Gandhi had told a US envoy that he did not have problems with Lashkar-e-taiba but he had problem ‘saffron terror’.
