Insulting India's ethos and Hindu gods hallmark of INDIA bloc: BJP

NEW DELHI: BJP on Tuesday hit out at INDIA bloc over A Raja's statement that his party, DMK, did not believe in Ramayana or Lord Ram, and that India was not a nation, but a sub-continent.
"It is evident that insulting India's ethos, publicly humiliating Hindu gods and questioning the very idea of India have become the hallmark of the INDI alliance... Is Congress ready to stoop so low for political gains that it is ready to accept such comments?" asked senior BJP functionary Ravi Shankar Prasad.
"Raja said we will never accept 'Jai Shri Ram' and 'Bharat Mata ki Jai'... Do Sonia, Rahul & Priyanka Gandhi, and Mallikarjun Kharge agree with this? Will DMK use such derogatory comments against deities of other religions?" he said. Prasad noted that Raja had earlier attacked Sanatan Dharma.
Reacting to Raja's 'India is not a nation but a sub-continent' remark, Prasad said, "It is Maoist ideology."
Interestingly, Raja's statement came a day after Supreme Court rebuked his colleague and TN minister Udhayanidhi Stalin for disparaging Sanatan Dharma.
Prasad demanded that Congress and INDIA bloc constituents come out and say if they agreed with Raja's remarks. "We vehemently condemn such remarks... DMK should not assume they can escape scrutiny for such statements. Listen Raja saheb, this time election results in Tamil Nadu will be very surprising," Prasad added.
He also slammed West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, questioning her silence on the issue and on the reported remarks of TMC leader Ramendu Singh Roy against PM Modi. " Roy asked why Modi did pran pratishtha (at Ayodhya) instead of a Brahman," Prasad claimed.
"Such comments are not only derogatory to underprivileged and backward communities but also perpetuate a feudalistic ideology that bars them from temple worship."