BJP calls Rahul 'liar of the highest order' for comments on Ram temple's consecration

New Delhi, Sep 28 (PTI) Congress leader Rahul Gandhi came under attack on Saturday for his "naach-gaana" comment on the January 22 consecration ceremony of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, with the ruling BJP calling him a "liar of the highest order".

The saffron party also said the Congress leader's comments show the Gandhi family's real nature and contempt for Hinduism.

The reaction of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came after a video clip of Gandhi went viral on social media, in which he is heard saying, "Amitabh Bachchan, Ambani and Adani were invited" to attend the consecration of the Ram temple but "no poor people, labourers or farmers" were called to attend the event.

"Naach-gana (dancing-singing) was happening there," the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha said, addressing a poll rally in Haryana's Barwala on Thursday.

That is why the BJP lost the Ayodhya Lok Sabha seat to the Samajwadi Party's Awadhesh Singh in the parliamentary election, the Congress leader said.

BJP's national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi accused the Congress of repeatedly disrespecting the Ram temple and pointed out that the workers involved in its construction were felicitated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and showered with flower petals.

"It is very sad and serious that Rahul Gandhi, who did not take the oath (in the Lok Sabha) in the name of god, is speaking various kinds of nonsense regarding religious matters," Trivedi told a press conference at the BJP headquarters here.

The workers involved in the temple's construction in Ayodhya were felicitated by Modi and showered with flower petals, he said.

The BJP leader also objected to the use of words like "naach-gana" by Gandhi in the context of the temple's consecration ceremony.

He said three generations of the Gandhi family had gone to Mughal emperor Babar's grave in Afghanistan to pay their respects, and claimed that their stand on the temple shows their real nature and contempt for Hinduism.

Reacting sharply to Gandhi's comments, another BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said the Congress leader is not only anti-Hindu but also a "liar of the highest order".

"He said no poor person or labourer was there. Was he blind to the swagat, satkar of the shramiks done by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with pushp varsha?" he asked in a post in Hindi on X. Poonawalla also shared a video of the January 22 event in Ayodhya on the microblogging platform.

He slammed Gandhi for targeting the "pious occasion of Praan Pratishta" of the Ram temple.

"Not the first time he has lied -- he once said Aishwarya Rai naach rahi thi when Aishwaryaji wasn't even there," Poonawalla added. PTI