Rahul Gandhi calls Lord Ram ‘mythological’, BJP hits back with ‘anti-Hindu’ jibe

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi sparked a row after he termed Lord Ram a “mythological figure” during an interaction at a US university. The remark did not go down well with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) who lashed out at the party’s ‘anti-Hindu mindset’ and termed Gandhi “anti-Ram”.

Rahul Gandhi, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, made the remarks at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University. The remark came in response to the question: How should secular politics which embraces all communities be formulated in an age dominated by Hindu nationalism?

Gandhi replied that none of the great social reformers and political thinkers in India have been bigots and added that he does not consider the BJP’s idea as Hindu.

“All our mythological figures, Lord Ram was of that kind. He was forgiving, he was compassionate. I don’t consider what the BJP says to be the Hindu idea at all. I consider the Hindu idea to be much more pluralistic, much more embracing, much more affectionate, much more tolerant and open. There are people in every state and community who stood for those ideas, lived for those ideas and died for those ideas. Gandhiji is one of them. To me, hatred and anger against people come from fear. If you are not scared, you don’t hate anybody,” he added.

Further, Rahul Gandhi targeted the BJP and called them a “fringe group”.

“I don’t view the BJP conception as a Hindu conception. In terms of thinking, they are a fringe group, now they have captured political power, they have got a huge amount of wealth and power, but they don’t represent the large majority of Indian thinkers by any means,” Gandhi said.

Sharing a clip from the interview on social media, BJP leaders targeted the Congress MP and said that they even “opposed the construction of the Ram Temple.”

BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla wrote on X, “Insulting Hindus and Lord Ram has become the Congress party’s identity. Those who rejected Lord Ram’s existence through an affidavit, opposed the construction of the Ram Temple, coined the ‘Hindu terror’ phrase, have now said Rahul Gandhi is ‘mythological’. Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi did not attend the Ram Temple consecration. This shows their anti-Ram and anti-Hindu mindset. They speak Pakistan’s language, hurt the morale of the forces. They are anti-Ram and anti-India and the people won’t forgive this.”

Pradeep Bhandari, another BJP spokesperson, said, “Prabhu Shri Ram was just a mythological figure – this is the mindset of Congress: mock Hindu faith, question Lord Ram, and then fake love for Sanatan during elections. Congress is blatantly Anti-Hindu!”

BJP spokesperson CR Kesavan also shared a clip of Gandhi’s remark on X and wrote, “Rahul Gandhi’s Congress led UPA Govt [2007] had filed an affidavit in SC stating no historical proof of Lord Ram. His ally DMK mocked Lord Ram saying there is no history which states which engineering college Rama studied nor what bridge he built.”

The affidavit BJP leaders referred to was filed in the Supreme Court in 2007 by the then UPA government saying that the Valmiki’s tale Ramayana lacks historical proof.