Taking veiled swipes at the BJP leadership, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said Mahatma Gandhi was an "ascetic" whose ways should be emulated rather than worshipping him.
Followers of Hindutva worship ascetics but mock their teachings, he said.
The Congress leader was speaking at a seminar on Mahatma Gandhi's thoughts, 'Gandhi Vichar Sangosthi- Nava Raipur Sevagram: Swarup and Sambhavnaye', at the Science College ground in Raipur.
His statements also came in the backdrop of the recent derogatory statements made by some right-wing religious leaders about the Father of the Nation.
“To me, he (Mahatma Gandhi) was a tapasvi (ascetic) who devoted his whole life to `tapasya' (penance/mission). Many people do tapasya but he also added truth to it,” he said.
“An ascetic should not be worshipped. Worshipping them is an insult to them. The message of an ascetic is one should do tapasya and follow the path shown by him," Rahul Gandhi added.
Merely worshipping Mahatma Gandhi was an insult to him, he said.
“You must have seen Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other people do this. It's very easy. They take names, join hands, bow down their heads and worship. They do not understand that the people before whom they bow their heads, may it be Dr B R Ambedkar or (Mahatma) Gandhi, were ascetics. They spent their whole life in austerity, in search of truth,” the Congress leader further said.
He also reiterated that there was a difference between a Hindu and a "Hindutvavadi".
"One who is Hindu tries to follow the path of truth…Hindutvavadis are those who worship with palms joined in front of the ascetic but make fun of the path shown by our great leaders.
"So the fight is between these two ideologies," Rahul Gandhi said.
One ideology was about "going inside yourself and understanding the truth", while the other says "look outside, don't look inside and tell others what you have to say," he said.
"Truth is not a word, truth is an action," the Congress leader said, adding that if there was no corresponding action, talking of truth and love or affection was meaningless.
"He (Mahatma Gandhi) is not our god, he is our leader. He was a human, we accept that. We accept that he learnt and struggled. We accept that he made mistakes but he had a very, very high bar which many will never probably achieve," the Congress leader said.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel was also present on the occasion.
Earlier in the day, Rahul Gandhi laid the foundation stone of a Gandhi Sevagram Ashram in Nava Raipur, to be built on the lines of the famous Gandhi Ashram at Wardha in Maharashtra.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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