Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi addressing an election rally in support of party candidate Manpreet Singh Badal in Bathinda in Punjab
Rahul Gandhi today responded to digs at his visits to homes of Dalits, amid a controversy over yoga teacher Ramdev's comment that the purpose of these visits was "honeymoon and picnic."
While campaigning in Punjab, Mr Gandhi said, "The BJP and Narendra Modi have always made fun of me whenever I visit Dalits, they have been saying various things about it. I can't remember if Mr Modi has paid a visit to any Dalit, even though he does eat at the house of Mr Adani, who is a rich man."
The Congress vice president has been accusing Mr Modi, the chief minister of Gujarat, of favouring the Adani group and giving it thousands of acres of land at the rate of one rupee a square metre.
Last week, the BJP's prime ministerial candidate had sneered that Rahul Gandhi visits homes of the poor like tourists who visit the Taj Mahal. "These people are born with a silver spoon in their mouth, they want to see poverty. They wonder whether the poor have two legs, two hands, does the poor also have a voice. These people go on poverty tourism," Mr Modi had said.
Mr Gandhi today said, "They said I go for picnics at Dalits' homes, just because he is poor you can't eat at his house? Is this what they mean?"
This is the 43-year-old Congress leader's first response to the controversial comments of Ramdev last week that he visits Dalit homes for "honeymoon and picnic."
The yoga teacher, who has endorsed the BJP, has since apologized, but he has been booked under a law that punishes any slur on backward castes. He has also been banned from holding meetings in Himachal Pradesh and Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh.
Today, he defiantly renewed his attack on Mr Gandhi, saying, "Rahul goes to dalit dwellings and speaks of their poverty and conducts photo ops."
The BJP has come out in Ramdev's defence, calling him a "saint".