Nearly 1.5 years after he visited the Somnath temple in Gujarat, the trip of Congress chief Rahul Gandhi to the revered shrine is still being used as political fodder by his rivals. On Tuesday, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath claimed Rahul sat in the Somnath temple as if he was offering namaz (Muslim prayers).
Adityanath was speaking at an rally for the Lok Sabha polls in Gandhinagar on Tuesday. ANI quoted Adityanath as saying, “the temple priest had to scold him (Rahul) that this was a temple, '[saying] sit cross-legged'.” Adityanath taunted Rahul by declaring nakal ke liye bhi akal chahiye (acting also requires brains).
Adityanath also took aim at Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the sister of Rahul. Adityanath claimed, the “new generation” of Congress leaders (in a reference to Rahul and Priyanka) had “dropped in” at the Kumbh Mela after they learned that 24 crore people had visited the event. Priyanka undertook a much-publicised 'Ganga yatra' this month, visiting several temples, as she oversaw Congress preparations for the Lok Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh. Adityanath claimed leaders like Rahul and Priyanka only visited temples during election campaigning.
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The visit of Rahul to the Somnath temple during the campaigning for the Gujarat assembly elections in November-December 2017 had triggered much criticism from the rightwing, in particular the BJP.
Rahul was criticised for allegedly entering his religion in the temple's register as 'non-Hindu'. The Congress blamed the goof-up as a mistake on the part of a party coordinator.
Rahul also continued his practice of visiting temples during the elections to the assemblies in Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. During campaigning for the Karnataka polls in May 2018, Rahul was accused of visiting a temple after “eating chicken”.
