HYDERABAD: Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Wednesday dismissed the controversy over his remarks on Hindu deities, accusing the BJP of deliberately distorting his words by stripping them of context for political mileage.
Speaking informally to reporters on Parliament premises in New Delhi, Revanth said: “The BJP lost its security deposit in Jubilee Hills and is now creating an unnecessary issue out of nothing. By doing so, they are only making me famous even in North India — I’m quite happy about that.”
The chief minister clarified the actual intent behind his statement made two days ago at Gandhi Bhavan while addressing Congress workers: “Just as Hinduism has numerous gods with different identities and symbols, the Congress too has many leaders with diverse viewpoints, yet we all work together unitedly. That was the only point I was making.”
The row erupted after a clip of his Gandhi Bhavan speech went viral, in which he had said: “How many deities are there in Hinduism? Three crore? Why? For the unmarried, there is Lord Hanuman. For those married twice, there are other gods. For those who drink, there are Yellamma, Pochamma, Maisamma. For meat-eaters, there are gods; even for those who eat only dal-rice, there is a separate deity.”
The BJP has condemned the remarks terming them derogatory toward Hindu beliefs, while the Congress maintains the comments were taken out of context to malign the CM.
During his meeting with the prime minister, the chief minister said he had urged him to extend full support for Telangana’s development.
“When Dr Manmohan Singh was prime minister and Narendra Modi was chief minister of Gujarat, the Centre cooperated fully with Gujarat’s development. In the same spirit, I requested Modi to extend similar cooperation to Telangana,” he said.