BHOPAL: Controversy erupted in Madhya Pradesh after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi offered floral tributes to the statue and portrait of former Prime Minister and his grandmother, Indira Gandhi, at Congress HQ in Bhopal without taking off his shoes.
The incident took place just before the Leader of Opposition chaired series of meetings to launch the Sangathan Srijan Abhiyan to rebuild the grand old Congress party in BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh.
Two ruling BJP leaders, including Madhya Pradesh CM Dr Mohan Yadav and state party spokesperson Dr Hitesh Bajpai, took a dig at Gandhi for offering floral tributes without taking off his shoes.
Bajpai shared the video on the social media platform ‘X’ in which Gandhi was seen offering tributes without removing his shoes.
However, a video shared by State Congress chief and former MP minister Jitu Patwari shows Rahul taking off his shoes before offering tributes to the Late PM.
CM Mohan Yadav said, “The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha is here, everyone is welcomed here in a democracy. But offering floral tributes to his grandmother without even taking off his shoes did not go down well. It isn't in line with our tradition and culture.”
Reacting to the CM’s remark, the state Congress’s media wing head Mukesh Nayak said, “We are not people who do too many rituals... throwing dust in the eyes in the name of sanskar, promoting religious fanaticism in the country in the name of sanskar, making fake people wear fake clothes and stand in the public in the name of sanskar... such times have ended in India. The public is fed up with it, Now there is only one thing: to create an egalitarian society and to think about everyone's development by keeping an inclusive approach. This is the ideology of Congress.”
Notably, the Congress party has suffered successive drubbings in the 2023 assembly and 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Madhya Pradesh is the second BJP-ruled state after Gujarat, where the Congress is launching the Sangathan Srijan Abhiyan.
Rahul Gandhi will hold a series of meetings with the state party’s Political Affairs Committee (PAC), the MLAs and ex-MPs and the observers appointed for individual districts under the Sangathan Srijan Abhiyan.
He will also address the party’s functionaries and workers from across the State, before leaving from Bhopal in the evening.