The Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday trained guns on Rahul Gandhi for asking a temple priest in Odisha to apply a ‘small tilak’ on his forehead, calling the Congress leader a ‘Chunaavi Hindu’.

Rahul Gandhi visited and offered prayers at Vedvyas temple in Rourkela during the Odisha leg of his Bharat Jodo Nyaya Yatra. In a video shared by news agency ANI, Gandhi was seen entering the temple and requesting the pujari to apply a ‘small tilak’ on his forehead. He later enters the sanctum sanctorum of the temple to perform puja.

BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya posted a short clip from the video in which the Congress leader was heard making the request, and wrote, “Chunaavi Hindu Rahul Gandhi”.

When asked about the criticism, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh, in charge of communications, said the BJP’s media team has been afflicted with unemployment and has nothing to do except making viral videos.

“Sabse badi berozgari BJP ki media team main hai. They don’t have anything else to do. All they do is run viral videos,” Ramesh said.

Dismissing the allegations of being ‘Chunaavi Hindu’, the senior Congress leader said that the temple wasn’t only of religious significance but of historical and cultural significance too. He said people believe that the cave of this temple is the place where sage and poet Vedavyasa composed the Mahabharata.

In a post on X, the official handle of Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra posted, “Today we had darshan and worship at the ancient Vedavyas temple located in Rourkela, Odisha. Maharishi Vedvyas composed the great book Mahabharata at this place, which teaches us to fight against unrighteousness and injustice. I wish that the war of justice started against injustice would be successful.”

‘Dog biscuit’ row

Rahul Gandhi recently scoffed at the BJP for making an issue out of his interaction with a puppy during the Jharkhand leg of his yatra.

Malviya posted the video on X claiming that the Congress leader offered the same biscuits to party workers after they were rejected by the puppy.

When asked about the controversy at a press conference, Rahul Gandhi said, “I called the dog and the owner. The dog was nervous, shivering and when I tried to feed it, the dog got scared. So I gave biscuits to the dog’s owner and the dog ate them from his hand.”

“I don’t understand what’s the issue with it,” he added. “I don’t understand BJP’s obsession with dogs.”