New Delhi: A fresh faceoff ensued between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday over a video of Rahul Gandhi's meeting with controversial catholic priest George Ponnaiah in Tamil Nadu.
In the video, Ponnaiah is heard saying that Jesus Christ "is the real God". "God reveals him(self) as a man, a real person...not like Shakti..." he says in the purported clip shared by BJP leader Shehzad Poonawalla.
Rahul Gandhi on Friday met catholic priest George Ponnaiah in the Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu amid the Congress party's Bharat Jodo Yatra.
A video clip shared by BJP leader Shehzad Poonawalla shows Rahul Gandhi asking if Jesus Christ is a form of God or God himself. To which the Tamil Nadu priest replied, "He is the real God." Ponniah goes on to say, "God reveals him(self) as a man, a real person...not like Shakti...so we see a human person."
Attacking the former Congress president, Shehzad Poonawalla wrote: "George Ponnaiah who met Rahul Gandhi says “Jesus is the only God unlike Shakti (& other Gods) 'This man was arrested for his Hindu hatred earlier' - he also said 'I wear shoes because impurities of Bharat Mata should not contaminate us.' Bharat Jodo with Bharat Todo icons?"
ABP could not independently check the veracity of the video.
"It's Rahul Gandhi's Nafrat Jodo Abhiyan. Today they've made a person like George Ponnaiah the poster boy of Bharat Jodo Yatra who challenged, threatened Hindus & said inappropriate things about Bharat Mata. Congress has a long history of being anti-Hindu," Shehzad Poonawalla said, as quoted by news agency ANI.
Congress MP and party's communications in charge Jairam Ramesh has called it, "an atrocious tweet from the BJP hate factory". "It bears no relation whatsoever to what is recorded in the audio. This is typical BJP mischief that has become more desperate after the successful launch of Bharat Jodo Yatra which is evoking such a huge response," he wrote on Twitter.
In a sharp counterattack, the senior Congress leader further alleged, "People who were responsible for the killing of Mahatma Gandhi and the murders of people like Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare, MM Kalburgi and Gauri Lankesh are raising questions! What a morbid joke! Such attempts to damage the spirit of Bharat Jodo Yatra will fail miserably!"
The statements come after the BJP taunted Rahul Gandhi over the price of his T-shirt that he wore on Friday amid the Congress Yatra and the grand old party hit back using barbs of "khakhi shorts" in reference to the BJP's ideological parent the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
More On It: 'Those With Shorts Will Only Look At T-Shirt': Cong Hits Back At BJP After Dig On Rahul Gandhi
As for the catholic priest, George Ponnaiah was arrested last year in July in Madurai's Kallikudi for an alleged 'hate speech' against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, DMK Minister, and others. He made contentious remarks in a meeting on July 18, 2021, at Arumanai in Tamil Nadu.
Rahul Gandhi met him at the Muttidichan Parai Church, Puliyoorkurichy where he camped for a morning break on Friday, ANI reported.