Participate in Datta Jayanti if you are a Brahmin, Bhajrang Dal tells Rahul

Chikkamagaluru: Vice-president of the Karnataka Bhajrand Dal unit Sakaleshpura Raghu on Friday asked All India Congress Committee (AICC) president Rahul Gandhi to come to the state, and participate in the Datta Jayanti celebrations in Chikkamagaluru if he was a Brahmin, whose Gothra (Ancestral Sage) was Dattatreya, as members of Congress had recently claimed.
“He should participate in the Datta Jayanti rituals atop Bababudangiri hill shrine scheduled on December 22,” said other devotees, who have donned the holy garland as part of the celebrations.

Raghu accused Rahul of manipulating voters in Rajasthan through his frequent visits to temples. “Congress keeps changing its agenda during the elections. Rahul has himself given varying statements in different places,” said Raghu.

Chikkamagaluru District Congress Committee president Vijay Kumar charged the BJP and its affiliate organisations of politicising the issue by dragging the AICC president into it. “Our party is secular. But everyone has his or her identity. Rahul is a Kashmiri Brahmin. Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi too had stated that she was a proud Hindu. The roots of the Gandhi family lie in the Brahmin community,” said Kumar.