BJP Criticises Rahul Gandhi's Meeting With Tamil Pastor George Ponniah

New Delhi, September 10: In a fresh war of words between political rivals Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress party, the former has accused Rahul Gandhi of insulting the Hindu religion. The Congress leader, who launched a Bharat Jodo Yatra four days ago, was seen with Tamil Pastor George Ponniah in Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu.

The pastor was arrested in 2021 July for an alleged hate speech against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. BJP leaders slammed the Congress leader for meeting with the Pastor Ponniah, who was arrested for spreading "Hindu Hatred". BJP leader Shehzad Poonawalla and party's national spokesperson Sambit Patra tweeted a video of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in conversation with the pastor amid his Bharat Jodo Yatra campaign.

BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra took to Twitter and said," Is this "Bharat Jodo"? Denouncing one religion for the appeasement of the other. This "Hindu Hatred" of the Congress in general & Rahul in particular is no more a clandestine affair …Rahul wears it on his sleeves with pride! "Bharat-Todo" indeed by Rahul Gandhi!"

Later at the party headquarters Patra criticised Rahul Gandhi of insulting Hindu religion and playing appeasement politics by meeting the controversial Tamil pastor. Patra further alleged that during elections Rahul Gandhi pretends to go to temples but the "anti-Hindu" face comes to the fore after the polls are over. A video of Rahul Gandhi's meeting with Ponniah is circulating in social media, as the political leader can be heard asking, "Jesus Christ is a form of god? Is that right?" To this, the pastor can be heard saying "He is the real god. God reveals him(self) as a man, a real person ... not like Shakti (strength) ... so we see a human being…"

Meanwhile, All India Congress Committee's general secretary Jairam Ramesh came for Rahul Gandhi's defense and said the BJP's "hate factory" is sharing tweets about Gandhi which have no relation to the audio.

Jairam Ramesh slammed the BJP in a series of tweets and added, "People who were responsible for the killing of Mahatma Gandhi and the murders of people like Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare, MM Kalburgi and Gauri Lankesh are raising questions! What a morbid joke! Such attempts to damage the spirit of #BharatJodoYatra will fail miserably!"