Adityanath Not A Religious Leader, He Is A Common Thug, Says Rahul Gandhi

An attendee of the meeting quoted Gandhi as saying, "I am sorry, he (Adityanath) is not a religious leader, he is a common thug."

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi speaks during the National Convention on Bharat Jodo Abiyaan, in New Delhi.

Source : PTI

New Delhi: Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the Congress, on Monday said that UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath cannot be a religious leader because of the language he uses, reported news agency PTI. Gandhi made the claim that Adityanath was "insulting" the history of his Gorakhnath Math by the language he was using during an interaction with members of civil society at the Constitution Club on the recently concluded Bharat Jodo Yatra.

An attendee of the meeting, which was not open to the media, quoted Gandhi as saying, "I am sorry, he (Adityanath) is not a religious leader, he is a common thug."

Gandhi was quoted as saying while criticising the BJP that "this is not dharam but adharam" when asked how the Congress would address the "storm of religion" in Uttar Pradesh. The former Congress chief responded that this was not about religion because he understands his own religion, Hinduism, as well as other faiths like Islam, Christianity, Judaism, and Buddhism.

Gandhi told members of civil society to be careful with their words and said that Yogi is not a religious leader in Uttar Pradesh and does not understand Hinduism "because if he did, he would not be doing what he is doing." Gandhi stated that the Bharat Jodo Yatra was only the first step in his conversation with them, which was coordinated by Swaraj India leader Yogendra Yadav, and that he had two to three additional ideas that he would reveal in due course.

Additionally, he asserted that the over 4,000-kilometer Kanyakumari-to-Kashmir yatra was a force for good and that everyone, including animals, participated.

Another person who was there said that Gandhi said that some people were yelling "Jai Shri Ram" during the yatra, so he told them to chant "Jai Siya Ram" instead.

He claimed that when security personnel asked him if he was scared on the Kashmir leg of the yatra, he confronted his fear and overcame it.

Gandhi was quoted as saying that Congress also came from civil society and will continue to collaborate with it in the future.