BJP Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi paying floral tributes to Pt. Madan Mohan Malaviya beofre filing his nomination papers in Varanasi on Thursday.
A group of people claiming to be Samajwadi Party workers on Thursday "cleansed" with Ganga water the statue of Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya at BHU campus in Varanasi hours after
Narendra Modi garlanded it.
SP corporator Ravi Kant Vishwakarma and a number of SP workers said that they washed the statue because it was garlanded by Mr Modi, "who is accused of being partisan towards Muslims during the 2002 riots in Gujarat."
"This holy city will not accept authoritarian leaders like Narendra Modi, who along with his close aide Amit Shah wants to disturb the communal harmony of the holy city," said Mr Vishwakarma.
Earlier Mr Modi was given a rousing welcome at Banaras Hindu University, where he had paid floral tributes to the statue of Malaviya, the founder of the renowned educational institution. (V
aranasi at his side, Narendra Modi delivers biggest road-show in world's largest election)
Mr Malaviya's grandson, Giridhar Malaviya, a retired judge of the Allahabad High Court is among the four proposers of Mr Modi.
Mr Malviya had accompanied Mr Modi during filing of his nomination. (
India Votes 2014: Full coverage)