SOMNATH: Responding to the allegation, Rahul said: “I’m a devotee of Lord Shiva. Let them say whatever they want to say. My truth is with me.” The Congress released old pictures of Rahul with overt Hindu markers—with father Rajiv Gandhi at a ritual, with a tilak , at a puja with Priyanka at her wedding.
Party spokesman Randeep Surjewala said: “We have no qualms in saying Rahul Gandhi is a Hindu. Not only that, he is a ‘janeu dhari’ (thread-wearing) Hindu. The BJP should not bring the political discourse down to this level”.
The Congress has been rather keen to establish Rahul’s Hindu identity and shed the party’s minority appeasement image. Rahul has been doing temple-hopping in his Gujarat Navsarjan Yatra, which the BJP has been projecting as a sign of desperation rather than devotion.
Modi, addressing a rally in Prachi, 25 km from Somnath, touched on this theme by reminding Rahul that his great-grandfather Nehru was against the idea of rebuilding the Somnath temple. “If there was no Sardar Patel, the temple in Somnath would never have been possible.
Today some people are remembering Somnath. I have to ask them—Have you forgotten your history? Your family members, our first Prime Minister, was not happy with the idea of a temple being built there,” Modi thundered.