NEW DELHI: A video of Rahul Gandhi’s purported meeting with controversial Tamil Nadu pastor P George Ponnaiah sparked a row with BJP attacking the Congress leader for meeting the evangelist who was hauled up by high court for making anti-Hindu comments. He is seen deriding the concept of Shakti in the “interaction”.
In the video which went viral, Ponnaaiah is seen responding to the Congress leader’s question about whether Jesus was a form of God, saying, “Jesus is the real God. God reveals him(self) as a man, a real person...not like Shakti...so we see a human person.”
BJP circulated the video of the purported meeting which took place during Rahul’s tour of Tamil Nadu as part of ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ and said the Congress leader’s conversation with the pastor showed that the former had, in fact, embarked on a ‘Bharat Todo Yatra’.
“Not the 1st time. There are numerous occasions when Congress, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi have made indecent remarks against Hindu religion — be it demanding proof of Lord Ram or this issue of Maa Shakti,” BJP’s spokesperson Sambit Patra told reporters, accusing the Congress leader of using the “anti-Hindu” Christian priest as a poster boy of his campaign.
The BJP spokesperson further said, “Rahul Gandhi has to visit temples at the time of elections to create a farce. When elections conclude, this farce of Rahul Gandhi ends and his real face — the anti-Hindu face — comes to light.” Ponniah, a Roman Catholic pastor, is a member of Jananayaga Christhava Peravai, an NGO based in Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu.
Ponnaiah had landed himself in serious trouble because of remarks against Hindu deity Bhooma Devi, which the Madras HC had termed as aimed against the majority community, saying there was no need for the pastor to make “deliberate and malicious” comments about religious beliefs of Hindus.
BJP IT department head Amit Malviya shared another undated video in which Poonaiah is heard saying, “I can give you in writing that the last days of Modi will be miserable. Modi and Amit Shah will be eaten by dogs and insects.”
