NEW DELHI: With a major controversy erupting over Rahul Gandhi's Somnath temple visit, Congress on Wednesday went into a huddle and released three images of the party vice president to prove his Hindu credentials.
The grand old party released three pictures which showed Rahul Gandhi performing 'puja' with his parents Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi.
In the second picture, the Gandhi scion is seen attending his elder sister Priyanka Gandhi's wedding ceremony, which was performed according to Hindu rituals.
The third picture released by the Congress shows Rahul Gandhi performing last rites as per Hindu customs.
The controversy over Rahul’s visit to Somnath temple erupted over a register entry reportedly made by his media coordinator Manoj Tyagi. When Rahul Gandhi visited the temple on Wednesday, the register entry was made in his name as he went inside the temple. The name of veteran Congress Ahmed Patel was also mentioned in the register.
Reports had said that the entry in the register was supposed to be made by non-Hindus visiting the temple in the Saurashtra area of Gujarat.
Congress issued a clarification on the register entry in question. Sharing an image of a register entry, made by the Gandhi scion himself, on Twitter, the Congress claimed that the one being circulated widely is “fabricated”.
A tweet by the Congress party said, “Clarification: There is only one visitor's book at Somnath Temple that was signed by Congress VP Rahul Gandhi. Any other image being circulated is fabricated. Desperate times call for desperate measures?”
The BJP stated, "The Congress has always tried to project Rahul Gandhi as a Hindu. But the fact is that he is not. Rahul has visited over 20 temples of multiple Hindu deities since October. The Congress has been lying. The entry shows that he is not an Hindu," said Raju Dhruv, BJP spokesperson in Saurashtra region.
Somnath temple, located on the shores of the Arabian sea on the southern most part of Gujarat, is revered by Hindus and enshrines the first of 12 'jyotirlings' of Lord Shiva. Through a notice in June 2015 the Shree Somnath Trust (SST) - the institution managing the temple -- had made it mandatory for non-Hindus to seek permission of the Trust before entering the main temple.
