Congress is party of hypocrites: Javadekar

Hitting out at the Congress for celebrating the birth anniversary of Mysore ruler Tipu Sultan, the BJP on Saturday dubbed it as a "party of hypocrites".

Union minister and BJP leader Prakash Javadekar here said, "While Congress president Rahul Gandhi talks of love and brotherhood, his disciples celebrate Tipu Jayanthi. Tipu Sultan killed Hindus and Christians and destroyed temples and churches."

He said the Congress' nature was to say something but do something else.

"How can they explain this hypocrisy? This is the true nature of Congress," he said.

He pointed out that the previous Congress government led by Siddaramaiah began celebrating the birth anniversary of controversial 18th century Mysore kingdom ruler on November 10 every year since 2015 amid stiff opposition from the BJP.

With the Karnataka chief minister and his deputy skipping the Tipu Jayanthi celebrations, a Congress legislator on Saturday termed it as an insult to the Muslim community.

"This was the first Tipu Jayanthi of the new government. The information is that following doctor's advice chief minister H D Kumaraswamy is not taking part (in the programmes). Deputy chief minister G Parameshwara is on a foreign tour. This development has somewhere come across as though the community has been insulted. There is no doubt about it," MLA and former minister Tanveer Sait said.