NEW DELHI: Congress MP Rahul Gandhi came under attack on Saturday for his “naach-gaana” comment on the January 22 consecration ceremony of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, with the ruling BJP calling him a “liar of the highest order”.
The saffron party also said his comments show the Gandhi family’s real nature and contempt for Hinduism.
The BJP reacted after a video clip of Gandhi went viral on social media, in which he is heard saying, “Amitabh Bachchan, Ambani and Adani were invited” to attend the consecration of the Ram temple but “no poor people, labourers or farmers” were called to attend the event.
“Naach-gana (dancing-singing) was happening there,” the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha said, addressing a poll rally in Haryana’s Barwala on Thursday.
BJP’s national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi accused the Congress of repeatedly disrespecting the Ram temple and pointed out that the workers involved in its construction were felicitated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and showered with flower petals. “It is very sad and serious that Rahul Gandhi, who did not take the oath (in the Lok Sabha) in the name of god, is speaking various kinds of nonsense regarding religious matters,” Trivedi said at a press meet.
The BJP leader also objected to the use of words like “naach-gana” by Gandhi in the context of the temple’s consecration ceremony.
He said three generations of the Gandhi family had gone to Mughal emperor Babar’s grave in Afghanistan to pay their respects.