Amit Shah forced Manipur delegation to take shoes off before meeting him, says Rahul Gandhi

New Delhi, Feb 03: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's claim on Wednesday that a delegation of leaders from Manipur was asked to take off their shoes at Home Minister Amit Shah's residence while he himself was wearing footwear evoked a sharp response from the treasury benches. Union Minister Piyush Goyal alleged that Gandhi has "attacked" religious traditions by his "very ridiculous" charge against the home minister.

Speaking first from the Opposition side in the Lok Sabha during the debate on the Motion of Thanks on the President's address, Gandhi demanded an apology from Shah while narrating how a political leader from Manipur told him that he felt insulted over allegedly being asked to take off shoes when he went to meet the home minister.

It represents the idea of a Union of states versus the "idea of a king", the former Congress chief alleged.

"A few days ago, some political leader, I am not going to name, came to me from Manipur. He was very agitated. I said 'why are you agitated my brother' and he said 'Rahul Ji I have never felt as insulted as I have been a few days ago'."

Gandhi said the leader told him that a delegation of senior leaders from Manipur went to see the home minister. He then quoted the leader as saying that outside Shah's house the delegation members were told to take off their shoes and when they went inside the home minister's room, they found that he was wearing his "chappals". "What does this mean? What exactly does this mean? Why is it that in the home minister's house he can wear 'chappals' but a delegation of Manipuri politicians cannot?" Gandhi asked.

With members from the treasury benches challenging the claim, the former Congress chief said that he too had questioned the veracity of the allegation but the leader from Manipur has shown him photographs. This is not the way to deal with the people of India, Gandhi said. With BJP leaders invoking cultural traditions, he said culture is that "they take off their shoes and you also take off your shoes". Culture is not when they take off their shoes but you don't, Gandhi added.

Union Minister Piyush Goyal hit back at Gandhi, accusing him of bringing a "very ridiculous" charge against the home minister. "You have touched the religious sensibilities of all our people. Can he make such comments about our religious traditions in this House? He is attacking religious traditions. It is an attack on religious traditions of all of us," Goyal said.

Gandhi said the incident reflects the sense that "I am bigger than you". "It reflects a sense that 'you are nobody and I am everybody, that is why I will wear my shoes and you will not'," he said.

Assam Chief Minister and BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma, said on Twitter, "Mr Rahul Gandhi, those who prefer to feed biscuits to dogs in the presence of leaders from Assam and then offer them the same biscuits should be the last people to talk about political decency." "High command mindset is INC's (Indian National Congress') be-all and end-all. The people of India know it well," he said.