KARWAR: Union Minister Anantkumar Hegde, who all these days has been questioning the religion of Congress president Rahul Gandhi, has now courted another controversy by raising doubts over his origin. A video of his speech has gone viral on social media and has been receiving mixed reactions. A few days ago, addressing party workers in Uttara Kannada district, Hegde lashed out at Rahul Gandhi for seeking proof for causalities caused by air strike on terror camps in Pakistan by the Indian Air Force.
He said: “He was born out of Muslim father and Christian mother and how can he (Rahul Gandhi) claim himself to be a Brahmin? Can he give proof on being a Brahmin.”Raising the same issue at another function, Hegde had asked Rahul to give a DNA proof for his claim as Brahmin. The Union Minister said when Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by a suicide bomber, his body was in pieces. In order to identify his body pieces, a DNA test was to be done.
When officials asked for the blood sample of Rahul, Sonia Gandhi was said to have requested to take the blood sample of Priyanka Gandhi and it’s on record, he said. By narrating the so-called ‘on record’ story, Hegde raised doubts over the origin of Rahul. All these statements of Hegde have been making rounds on social media for the past many days. Hegde, who is called BJP firebrand leader, is a five-time MP from Uttara Kannada Lok Sabha constituency. He is known for his strong statements against Muslim community. Once he had openly declared that he does not want votes of Muslims.
According to local
political observers, Hegde makes controversial statements most of the time and gains a lot of publicity.
He believes that negative publicity is also good publicity. For the last two years, he has been lashing out at the Congress and its president Rahul. It is said to be an agenda of Hegde, apart from development works initiated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to gain votes, they said.