NEW DELHI: Union minister Jairam Ramesh on Thursday asked Narendra Modi if he agreed with Kanshi Ram who had said that a urinal should be constructed on the disputed site in Ayodhya while questioning RSS-VHP’s silence on the Gujarat leader’s comment that he gives preference to toilets over temples.

Ramesh said Modi’s newfound sensitivity for toilets was borne by his blind desire for the PM’s post and lacked conviction.

Ramesh slammed VHP-RSS for keeping quiet on Modi’s comment while they had targeted him when he, as Union minister in charge of sanitation, had lamented that there were more temples than toilets in the country.

“When I said it, Sangh activists urinated in front of my house and kept bottles of urine at my doorstep. What do they want to say now?” Ramesh said. He also questioned the silence of BJP leaders Prakash Javdekar and Rajiv Pratap Rudy who had accused him of “destroying the fine fabric of faith and religion”.

Congress ranks also accused RSS-BJP of duplicity in attacking Ramesh for the toilet-over-temple comment while keeping mum when Modi said the same.

Minister of state Rajiv Shukla said, "He (Modi) is not a Hindu leader. He has not even done anything for Hindus. He is being projected like this to mislead people, mislead Hindus under a conspiracy to garner votes." AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh also slammed Modi.

Rural development minister Ramesh mocked that had this wisdom dawned on Modi earlier, “the country would have been spared of Babri demolition, riots in different parts, Mumbai blasts and even Godhra and what happened after that”.

The minister accused Modi of faking concern for toilets. “The census of 2011 revealed only 34% of Gujarat was covered by sanitation. This is the story of Gujarat. The so-called Gujarat model is a model based on half truths, falsehoods and gross exaggerations," he said.

Slamming Modi, Ramesh said, “Modi should answer if he agrees with late BSP leader Kanshi Ram who had said during the BJP's Ayodhya movement that the solution to the Ayodhya controversy is to build a giant sanitation complex.”

