Rahul Gandhi questioned PM Modi’s Hindu quotient on Saturday in Udaipur. (Source: PTI) Rahul Gandhi questioned PM Modi’s Hindu quotient on Saturday in Udaipur. (Source: PTI)

Hours after Rahul Gandhi questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s understanding of Hinduism, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj hit back at the Congress president saying that he himself was “confused about his religion and caste”.

At an interactive session in Rajasthan’s Udaipur, Gandhi said, “What is the essence of Hinduism? What does the Gita say? That knowledge is with everybody… Knowledge is all around you. Every living being has knowledge. Our prime minister says he is a Hindu, but he doesn’t understand (the) foundation of Hinduism. What kind of a Hindu is he?”

Countering Gandhi, Swaraj said, “Rahul Gandhi said PM doesn’t know the meaning of being a Hindu. He said that because he and Congress are confused about his religion and caste. For years, the party presented him as a secular leader but near polls when they realised that Hindus are in majority, they created this image

“Bayan aaya ki wo ‘janeudhari brahmin’ hai, par mujhe nahi maloom tha ki ‘janeudhari brahmin’ ke gyan mein itni vridhi ho gayi ki Hindu hone ka matlab ab hame unse samajhna padega.Bhagwan na kare ki wo din kabhi aaye ki R Gandhi se hame Hindu hone ka matlab janna pade. (A statement was made that he (Rahul Gandhi) is janeudhari Brahmin, but I did not know that his knowledge has increased so much that we will have to understand the meaning of being a Hindu from him. May that day never come when we need to know the meaning of being a Hindu from Rahul Gandhi),” she was quoted as saying by ANI.

Meanwhile, law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad also slammed the Congress president for his remarks. He said, “Rahul Gandhi’s problem is, he is the confused Gandhi and he keeps on changing his Hindu appearances for political purposes, not by way of commitment. He isn’t a Hindu by commitment, he is a Hindu by political consideration. His Hindu faith changes with political expediency.”

Targeting PM Modi on demonetisation and the Goods and Services Tax (GST), Gandhi said the prime minister had a confusion that people in the world do not know anything and he had a sense that all knowledge came from his mind.

Soon after his comments, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah gave a sharp reaction while addressing an election rally in Balotara town of Barmer district.

“The Congress is now preaching us about Hinduism… They are giving us lessons of Gita,” Shah said.

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