RSS plays down Narendra Modi's toilets and temples remark

New Delhi, Oct 3: The Rashtriya Swamsevak Sangh (

) on Thursday rubbished possibilities of a controversy snowballing over

's prime ministerial candidate

's emphasis on toilets before temples. Modi said during an interaction with students in New Delhi that he believed sauchalayas (toilets) should get the priority before Devalayas (temples) even though though it didn't fit his image as a Hindutva leader.

Senior RSS leader MG Vaidya said both temples and toilets co-exist in India's villages and there was no comparison made between the two by the BJP leader.

Modi's emphasis on sanitation came at a time when the Sangh Parivar is keen to revive the temple issue ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. The VHP's plan to rake up the Ayodhya issue in Uttar Pradesh recently saw a major showdown with the ruling Samajwadi Party in the state.

Modi's words came at a time when the Parivar is keen to revive the temple issue

Modi said that lakhs were being spent on temples in villages but there were no toilets. He rued that the women in the land of Mahatma Gandhi had to relieve themselves out in the open. It was the Mahatma's 144th birth anniversary on Thursday.

The Congress took a dig at the BJP for not reacting to Modi's remark, saying the opposition party had lashed out at its own minister Jairam Ramesh for making a similar 'toilet before temple' remark last October.

Last year, Modi announced a special public toilet scheme worth Rs 300 crore for the urban poor in Gujarat ahead of the assembly elections.

OneIndia News