CONG-BJP spar over Rahul’s Kailash-mansarovar yatra

Shiv bhakt Rahul Gandhi has left for undertaking the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, where he will take the ‘parikarma’ of Mount Kailash and of Mansarovar lake.

RANDEEP SINGH SURJEWALA, Congress chief spokesperson

NEWDELHI: The Congress on Friday came down heavily on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for allegedly trying to denigrate party chief Rahul Gandhi’s Kailash-mansarovar pilgrimage.

“An unnerved Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a rattled BJP have shown their parochial hateful mindset by mocking this sacrosanct religious journey,” Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said.

Gandhi left on a 12-day Kailash-mansarovar pilgrimage via Nepal on Friday.

“Calling t his auspicious yatra honeymoon tourism by BJP is the vilest attack on Hindu faith and beliefs,” Surjewala said.

“It is indeed sad and tragic that BJP is insulting the abode of Lord Shiva and Maa Parvati by such cheap political tactics. We pray that Mahadeva shows them the path of enlightenment to cleanse their minds and souls from the vile hatred,” Surjewala added.

Earlier, the Bharatiya Janata Party had claimed that the Con- gress president wanted the Chinese ambassador to give him a ceremonial see-off before the Kailash-mansarovar yatra.

Party spokesperson Sambit Patra said the Congress should clarify which Chinese politicians and officials Gandhi was likely to meet during his visit.

“You are Rahul Gandhi, not Chinese Gandhi. Why should the Chinese ambassador want to see off a non-chinese person? There is no such protocol,” Patra told reporters.

The BJP spokesperson also alleged that the during the 2017 Doklam standoff between India and China, Rahul Gandhi had met the Chinese ambassador to understand the Chinese perspective without taking the Indian government into confidence or seeking to know the Indian perspective.