Rahul's remark disrespectful to majority community: BJP
New Delhi, Aug 14 : The BJP on Tuesday hit out at Congress President Rahul Gandhi for his remark that he does not believe in any variety of Hindutva, saying it was "humiliation" of the majority community and disrespectful" to Hindu philosophy.
The party dared the Congress leader to use such words against any other religion, asking him to clear his stand as to why he does not have faith in Hindutva.
"In a closed-door interaction with editors, Rahul Gandhi said he does not believe in Hindutva --'soft' or 'hard'. One can understand if you say you don't believe in fanaticism but to say that you don't believe in Hindutva is shocking," said BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra at a press conference.
"A few days back he had said that Congress was a 'Muslim party' and today he said he has no faith in Hindutva. It is humiliating to a majority community," said Patra.
"Whenever he senses a benefit, he becomes a janeu-dhaari, and when he sees an adverse reaction, he leaves his 'janeu' and forgets Lord Shiva," he said.
"By making such remarks, you (Rahul Gandhi) are playing with the faith of thousands of Hindus," he said.
On his remark that the Congress wants to defeat the BJP and the RSS in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Patra said: "Now, we doubt that you want to defeat the Hindus."
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.
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TN polls: TVK pushes DMK behind with leads in 83 seats, AIADMK ahead in 54
Chennai (PTI): New entrant TVK, led by actor-politician Vijay, was leading in as many as 83 constituencies on Monday when counting of votes polled in the April 23 Assembly polls was on across Tamil Nadu. The AIADMK was leading in 58 seats while the ruling DMK was ahead in 34, EC data showed.
About two hours after the postal ballots were counted and EVMs opened for multi-round counting, Vijay's Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam surged ahead of its Dravidian rivals-- the DMK and the AIADMK, with the ruling party struggling to catch up.
If the trends maintain, Vijay could as well ensure the biggest electoral upset, something in lines with the "1967,1977" wins he had referred to in his campaign speeches.
While the Dravidian stalwart CN Annadurai brought the first non-Congress government in Tamil Nadu post-independence in 1967, the charismatic MG Ramachandran (MGR) installed the maiden AIADMK government 10 years later, unseating then DMK government under M Karunanidhi. TVK was leading in most Chennai segments, all considered DMK strongholds and currently represented by the party in the 234-member House.
A poor show by DMK could belie most exit polls giving an edge to it, riding on the number of populist measures Chief Minister M K Stalin had implemented in his five year "Dravidian model," inclusive governance.
According to EC and TV reports, 15 cabinet ministers, including Stalin were trailing. His son and deputy CM Udhayanidhi was also behind in his incumbent Chepauk-Tirvuvallikeni seat, according to a number of reports.
Stalin was trailing behind TVK's VS Babu by 1234 votes in Kolathur segment. Vijay was ahead in Tiruchirappalli East by over 3,000 votes at the end of two rounds of counting, according to EC data.
BJP is trailing in 26 constituencies and it is ahead in Thali segment alone. TVK is ahead in constituencies including Ponneri, Tiruvallur, Poonamalle, and Avadi.
AIADMK is leading in segments including Katpadi, and Guidyattam and party chief Edappadi K Palaniswami is ahead in Edappadi segment by 7003 votes.
DMK was leading in segments including Vellore, Anaikattu and Rishivandiyam.
