I don't believe in soft or hardcore Hindutva: Rahul
Hyderabad, Aug 14: Congress President Rahul Gandhi made it clear on Tuesday that he was not wedded to Hindutva - "soft or hardcore".
In an interaction with editors, Gandhi did not agree that he was embracing soft Hindutva to appease the majority community.
"I don't believe in any kind of Hindutva, soft or hardcore," he said.
Gandhi said there was nothing wrong in his meeting religious leaders and visiting religious places.
His differences with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he insisted, were ideological and not personal.
Gandhi, on a two-day visit to Hyderabad, predicted that Narendra Modi would not become Prime Minister in 2019.
He said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would not even get 230 Lok Sabha seats and hence there was no question of Modi continuing in office again. The BJP tally would be cut primarily due to the alliance among non-BJP parties in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
He also pointed out that several allies of the BJP, including Shiv Sena, were against Modi becoming the Prime Minister for a second term.
The Congress President said the party was working with like-minded parties to form a grand alliance to defeat the BJP.
He was confident that a Congress-led alliance would form the next government at the Centre.
He evaded a direct reply to a question on who would be the Prime Minister in the event of Congress and other non-BJP parties getting a majority. He merely said they would work it out.
He was also non-committal on whether the Congress would repeat the Karnataka formula, where it accepted the leader of a party with fewer seats as the Chief Minister to prevent the BJP from taking power.
Asked about his hug to Modi in Parliament, Gandhi said it was intended to show that he doesn't hate people.
He, however, said the Prime Minister was cold in his response. He alleged that Modi doesn't give due respect to political rivals.
He voiced concern over growing intolerance in the country. He said that minorities were feeling insecure.
Gandhi said the party's state units were free to have alliances with like-minded parties. He was confident that the Congress would come to power in Telangana.
Asked about Andhra Pradesh, where Congress drew a blank in the 2014 polls, he said the party was improving its position.
He said Modi had failed to implement his promise of providing two crore jobs annually.
"China provides employment to 50,000 people in 24 hours while in India only 458 people get employment during this duration," he said.
In a lighter vein, Gandhi remarked that he was wedded to the Congress.
"I am wedded to Congress," he said when he was asked about his marriage plans.
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Taj Mahal top earning ASI monument through ticket sales from FY19-20 to FY23-24: Govt
New Delhi, Apr 3 (PTI): The iconic Taj Mahal in Agra earned the "highest income" through the sale of tickets among the ASI-protected monuments from FY19-20 to FY23-24, according to data shared by the government.
Union Culture Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat shared the data in a written response to a query in Rajya Sabha.
He was asked the amount that the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has received from selling entry tickets to various monuments in the last five years, year-wise and monument-wise; and the monuments that have received the highest income through selling entry tickets in the last five years.
In his response, the minister shared the data in a tabular form for cycles of financial years ranging from FY19-20 to FY23-24.
According to the data, Taj Mahal earned the top slot for all five years.
The Mughal-era architectural wonder was commissioned by Emperor Shah Jehan in the 17th century and it is considered one of the most beautiful buildings in the world.
In FY19-20, the Agra Fort in Agra and Qutub Minar in Delhi were in the second and third positions.
In FY20-21, the Group of Monuments Mamallapuram in Tamil Nadu and Sun Temple, Konark were in the second and third positions. In FY23-24, Qutub Minar and Red Fort of Delhi were in the second and third positions.
