BENGALURU: A day after the consecration ceremony of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, senior Congress leader and former chief minister M Veerappa Moily courted controversy by expressing doubts about Prime Minister Narendra Modi fasting for 11 days.
The former CM said a doctor told him that it is not possible to fast for 11 days. “They claimed he (the PM) was sustaining only on coconut water for 11 days. He was traveling all around the country and there was no tiredness on his face. People are questioning if he was actually fasting or not,” claimed Moily.
The Congress leader said if the PM had entered the sanctum sanctorum without fasting and performed the rituals, the place would lose its sanctity.
For 11 days, Modi had adhered to a disciplined routine, including sleeping on the floor and sustaining solely on coconut water. He had ended his fast on Monday with the culmination of the consecration ceremony of the temple.
BJP hits back at Moily
Lashing out at Moily for his comments, BJP MP Lahar Singh Siroya said, “Veerappa Moily, who goes around wearing the mask of a great writer, thinks everybody is a fake like him. He has doubted PM Narendra Modi Ji’s fast before the consecration of Ayodhya Ram temple. The nation knows the truth. You can fast and survive if you have faith in Lord Ram, not if you are pleasing the Gandhi family.”
Siroya said that despite this effort to please the family, Moily will not get a Congress ticket to contest from the Chikkaballapur Lok Sabha constituency.