Jitendra Singh hits out at Rahul over temple visits in Gujarat

Jammu, Dec 1: Union minister Jitendra Singh hit out at Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi over his visits to temples ahead of assembly polls in Gujarat, and said the people cannot be mislead by his "hypocrisy".

"Religion is a person issue. That is why it comes naturally to those who practise it, whether they are Hindus, Muslims or Christians. As far as BJP leaders and activists are concerned, their faith is personal and comes naturally.

"It does not happen unnaturally as it is happening in the case of Rahul Gandhi, who thinks of going to a temple when he is in Gujarat, but may not have visited a temple close to his Delhi residence," he told reporters in reply to a question on Gandhi's visit to various temples in Gujarat.

"What Prime Minister Narendra Modi is practicising, comes naturally to him and the whole country knows about it. It is not on the eve of an election that he has to start visiting a temple or try to appear to be religious minded as is being done by some of the Congress leaders.

Gujarat of 2017 cannot be mislead by this hypocrisy," Singh said. He said that the Congress has "grossly misjudged" the reality of the ground. "They are trying to play tricks of the past without realising that the voter has moved ahead. And, therefore, they will realise that this is going to be one-sided contest in Gujarat," he added.

Gujarat votes in two phases on December 9 and December 14. Votes will be counted on December 18.

PTI