The aftermath of the Maha Kumbh is witnessing another Congress-versus-BJP over religion. The BJP has again hit out against the Congress, calling the party and its leaders anti-Hindu and specifically targetting senior Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge. Mr Gandhi, the party claimed, has shown his indifference to Hinduism by failing to go either to Kumbh or the inauguration of the Ram temple. Congress’s Priyank Kharge, the son of party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, responded with a post on X that pointed out half of BJP Union Ministers and over half its MLAs never attended.
The BJP attack on the Congress came amid Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the Somnath temple in Gujarat.
“Rahul Gandhi’s whole family is anti-HIndu. They went to the mosque built by Babar (Ayodhya’s Babri Masjid) thrice but not for the darshan of Shri Ram at the Ram temple. Rahul Gandhi frequently goes to Raebareli (his parliamentary constituency. But he could not go to Prayagraj (the site of Maha Kumbh), that just 2 hours, two minutes and 120 km away,” said BJP spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari.
In a Hindi post on X, the BJP said, “After centuries of struggle and wait, a grand Ram temple was built in Ayodhya, in which the Pran Pratishtha of Lord Shri Ramlala was done on 22 January 2024 by the hands of Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi. But the Congress and Rahul Gandhi, who have always opposed the construction of the temple, did not attend the ceremony even after receiving the invitation. This shows that Congress has always been hurting the sentiments of Hindus to appease its vote bank”.
While the leader targeted did not respond, Priyank Kharge posted:
Dear @BJP4India,
Here’s a list of more so-called “anti-Hindus” who didn’t attend #MahaKumbh:
Half of your Union Ministers
More than half of BJP legislators across the country
Most of your IT Cell warriorsAnd let’s not forget your allies:
Sri Nitish Kumar
•Sri… https://t.co/t8G9W1wrKC— Priyank Kharge / ಪ್ರಿಯಾಂಕ್ ಖರ್ಗೆ (@PriyankKharge) March 2, 2025
By the BJP’s logic, even allies like Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, his Andhra Pradesh counterpart N Chandrababu Naidu, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and HD Kumaraswamy should also be counted as anti-Hindus, he added.