NEW DELHI: Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal said on Thursday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not a real Hindu, a day later Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) questioned Rahul Gandhi’s faith following his visit to Somnath Temple.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi is not a real Hindu. These people (BJP) have forgotten the Hindu religion and adopted ‘Hindutva’ instead,” the Congress leader told media.
The former Union Law Minister said the political discourse in the election campaigning in poll-bound Gujarat was deliberately being brought down by the BJP, as they lack issues to debate on.
“In Gujarat, BJP is not talking about demonetisation or GST. Therefore, it is evident that the politics has deteriorated. It seems that the development related concerns have lost somewhere in the Gujarat Assembly elections,” Sibal said.
Sibal’s remark came after a row erupted over Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi's visit to the temple in Gujarat, wherein his name was allegedly listed as a non-Hindu visitor in the visitor-book.
The controversy started when party's media coordinator Manoj Tyagi allegedly entered names of Rahul Gandhi and Congress MP Ahmed Patel in the special register for non-Hindus visiting the temple.
Soon, the BJP leaders began questioning Congress scion’s faith.
Later in the day, the Congress also issued clarification on Twitter saying, “There is only one visitor's book at Somnath Temple that was signed by Congress VP Rahul Gandhi. Any other image being circulated is fabricated. Desperate times call for desperate measures?"