Rahul went to temples, but kneeled down as if he was in a Mosque: Yogi

Bhopal, Nov 19: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday took potshots at Rahul Gandhi over the Congress president's temple visits. Adityanath said that Rahul Gandhi visited temples, but knelt down there as if it were a Mosque.

"Gujarat mein Rahul Gandhi ne bahot mandiro ke darshan kare lekin jab mandir mein darshan k waqt vo ghutno pe baithe, to pujari ko bolna padha, ki ye mandir hai masjid nahi hai (In Gujarat, Rahul gandhi went to many temples, but when he knelt down to pray, the pujaari at the temple had to say that it is temple and not a Mosque)," he said at a rally in Madhya Pradesh's Dhar.

Rahul reportedly made around 30 visits to temples during his campaign trail for Gujarat Assembly Elections in 2017. Rahul visited many temples even while campaigning for the Karnataka assembly elections earlier this year. Rahul's temple visits and Congress describing him as being a Janeu Dhari is part of what is being seen as Congress' 'Soft Hindutva' approach.

One part of Congress' strategy for 2019 is to build a strong narrative around the Rafale deal allegations, Modi government's handling of the economy, mob lynchings, increasing polarisation and intolerance etc to counter the BJP. The other part is what is being called as 'soft Hindutva' approach which is aimed at sending across a subtle message to the voters that 'Congress too is pro-Hindus'.

Rahul's Hindu tilt began with a visit to the Kedarnath temple in Uttarakhand. He doubled down by temple-hopping during the Gujarat assembly elections in December 2017 and then again during the Karnataka state elections earlier this year.