Congress Leader Confuses Goddess Sita With Draupadi, Slammed By BJP

The BJP on Thursday accused Congress leader Randeep Surjewala of insulting goddess Sita, asking why the party "hates Hindus so much".

Mr Surjewala, who is a Congress spokesperson and a Rajya Sabha candidate from Rajasthan, referred to goddess Sita of the Ramayana while mentioning an episode related to Draupadi in the Mahabharata.

Sharing a video of Mr Surjewala, who by mistake mentioned goddess Sita instead of Draupadi in the context of disrobing episode in the epic, BJP national spokesperson Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore asked, "Why the Congress hates Hindus so much."

"Rahul Gandhi, who does election tours from temple to temple, is irritated by a sacred word like Hindutva. His party keeps insulting Lord Ram. Today again, the Congress has hurt the faith of Hindus by making indecent remarks on Mata Sita," tweeted Mr Rathore, who is the Jaipur (Rural) MP.

Mr Surjewala is one of three candidates the Congress has fielded for the Rajya Sabha polls from Rajasthan.

He was expressing confidence of the party's victory and was simultaneously hitting out the BJP when by mistake he referred to Sita.

"Majority will win, democracy will win, Constitution will win, law will win, morality will win and those who are under cover of lies… like at one time Sita Maiya's 'cheerharan' had happened… they want to do 'cheerharan' of democracy, those people will be defeated and exposed," he told reporters in Udaipur on Thursday.

Targeting media baron Subhash Chandra who is contesting as an independent candidate, Mr Surjewala said, "Those who have come to Rajasthan on the basis of money power, CBI, Enforcement Directorate and Income Tax Department will be defeated."

Elections to four seats of the Rajya Sabha from the state will take place on Friday.

Besides Mr Surjewala, Congress has fielded Mukul Wasnik and Pramod Tiwari while BJP has given ticket to former minister Ghanshyam Tiwari.

Subhash Chandra is contesting election as an independent candidate and he is backed by the BJP and the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP).

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)