Rahul Gandhi visits Somnath temple, register entry sparks controversy

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday courted another controversy as he visited the Somnath temple in the Saurashtra area of poll-bound Gujarat.

As per the norm of the temple, every non-Hindu person visiting the Somnath temple needs to make a register entry before entering the premises.

When Rahul Gandhi visited the temple on Wednesday, a register entry was made in his name as he went inside the temple. This development has sparked speculations over the Gandhi scion being a non-Hindu.

Rahul Gandhi offers prayers at Somnath Temple in Gujarat pic.twitter.com/4i4QF0TT8Q — ANI (@ANI) November 29, 2017

The entry in the register was reportedly made by Rahul Gandhi’s media coordinator Manoj Tyagi. He had also mentioned the name of veteran Congress leader Ahmed Patel, who went to the temple along with the Gandhi scion.

Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday kicked off a two-day campaign tour in Gujarat with a visit to the Somnath temple. He is also slated to visit Gir Somnath, Amreli and Bhavnagar districts where he will interact with people and hold public meetings.

This is his sixth visit to the state since the Assembly elections dates were announced on October 24.

On the second day of campaigning, Rahul is slated to start his day with a poll rally in Lathi. He is also likely to visit the cities of Dhasa, Gadhada, Barvala and Vallabhipur.

The two-phase Gujarat elections will take place on 9 and 14 December, while counting of votes is scheduled for 18 December.

During his last visit to the state earlier in November, the Congress leader had offered prayers at the Swaminarayan Akshardham temple in Gandhinagar. He had also visited Ambaji temple during the visit.

A video of Rahul praying at the Akshardham temple was also shared on social media.

Rahulji at Swaminarayan Mandir (BAPS), Gandhinagar pic.twitter.com/bXcrL6iBUr — Shaktisinh Gohil (@shaktisinhgohil) November 11, 2017

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had targeted the Congress leader over his visit to temples, saying he was doing so just to target Hindu votes.

Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel had said, "Why is Rahul Gandhi visiting temples only ahead of elections? People know their intention that they want to get votes through such gimmicks. They have no inclination for devotion as during Rahul Gandhi's earlier trips, he never visited any temple."

"We wish that Congress sheds its pseudo-secularism and respects mainstream Hindutva. But their gimmicks to get votes will not work in Gujarat," Patel added.

The Congress had also hit back at the BJP, saying people would teach the ruling party a lesson as it was opposing a visit to temple.

"Does anybody have a patent on devotion? They are opposing a visit to the temple. People of Gujarat will teach them a lesson," Congress leader Shaktisinh Gohil said.

"Rahul Gandhiji has visited a Jain temple and gurudwaras apart from Hindu temples. We believe in secularism," he had said.

Gandhi had started his campaign in Gujarat with a visit to the renowned Dwarkadheesh temple in September.