Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who is on a 150-day-long Bharat Jodo Yatra, on Friday met a controversial catholic priest George Ponnaiah in the Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu.
A video clip of Rahul Gandhi's interaction with the Tamil Nadu pastor went viral, in which Rahul Gandhi can be heard asking, "Jesus Christ is a form of God? Is that right?" to which the Tamil Nadu priest George Ponniah replied, "He is the real God."
Ponniah goes on to say, "God reveals him(self) as a man, a real person...not like Shakti...so we see a human person."
Ponniah is known for delivering provocative statements that have landed him in trouble in the past.
He was arrested last year in July in Kallikudi, Madurai for allegedly making a 'hate speech' against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, DMK Minister and others.
Rahul Gandhi met him at the Muttidichan Parai Church, Puliyoorkurichy where he camped for a morning break on Friday.
Gandhi is undertaking the 3,570-km 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' to connect with people across the country while seeking to strengthen the Congress party, which has suffered successive electoral defeats in the last few years.
BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla, while sharing the video of Gandhi with a priest, said, "George Ponnaiah who met Rahul Gandhi says 'Jesus is the only God unlike Shakti (& other Gods)'."
"This man was arrested for his Hindu hatred earlier - he also said 'I wear shoes because impurities of Bharat Mata should not contaminate us'. Bharat Jodo with Bharat Todo icons," Poonawalla tweeted.
The Congress accused the BJP of spreading mischief and alleging that the ruling party has turned more desperate ever since the successful launch of the 'Bharat Jodo Yatra'.
"An atrocious tweet from the BJP hate factory is doing the rounds. It bears no relation whatsoever to what is recorded in the audio. This is typical BJP mischief that has become more desperate after the successful launch of BharatJodoYatra which is evoking such a huge response," Ramesh tweeted.
"People who were responsible for the killing of Mahatma Gandhi and the murders of people like Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare, MM Kalburgi and Gauri Lankesh are raising questions! What a morbid joke! Such attempts to damage the spirit of #BharatJodoYatra will fail miserably," he said in another tweet.
With inputs from PTI