A video clip of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi performing "aarti" has led to war of words between the BJP and Congress. On Saturday, BJP IT Minister Amit Malviya posted the video on Twitter, slamming Gandhi for performing aarti in an "anticlockwise" manner and dubbing it unscientific.
The video, taken during Rahul Gandhi's visit to Omkareshwar Temple in Madhya Pradesh during his Bharat Jodo Yatra, was first shared by Gandhi on Twitter on Saturday.
In the video, Gandhi could be seen wearing a turban that the priests at the venerated Shiva temple had placed on him and a 'dupatta' (stole) with 'Om' written on it that they draped on his shoulders. "Today, had the privilege of offering prayers at Lord Omkareshwar Temple, one of the twelve Jyotirlingas, along with Narmada Aarti,” Gandhi wrote on Twitter.
Taking a dig at the video, Malviya tweeted, "If only “chunavi Hindu” Rahul Gandhi knew that aarti is done clockwise and there is a scientific reason for it (Earth moves in clockwise direction and hence environmental frequencies are in sync with movement), he would not be making a spectacle of himself in public like this…".
Union Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani went on to share a screenshot of Gandhi performing Arti but upside down. "Ab theek hai," (now it's alright) she wrote, apparently in an attempt to fix the anticlockwise aarti.
However, the BJP has been trolled by virtual fact-checkers who claimed there was nothing wrong with the way Rahul was performing the Aarti.
Social media users, however, pointed out that Rahul Gandhi was indeed performing the Aarti in a clockwise motion and it looked anti-clockwise from Malviya's viewpoint.
Responding to Malviya's accusation that the Aarti was unscientific, one Twitter user wrote, “If only Amit Malviya knew that his left is Rahul's right..."
Other users shared graphics to demonstrate how ‘clockwise’ and ‘anti-clockwise’ worked and yet others dredged up old videos of Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself performing Arti in a similar fashion.
Smriti Irani was also trolled for sharing the upside down image of Gandhi, with Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi accusing Smriti of hurting Hindu sentiments to retain the "Troll tiara".
“Have to outdo the Assam CM since Troll Tiara is being snatched away, so in an attempt to troll, lets mock Hindu rituals to retain the title and the Tiara,” she tweeted". Chaturvedi's remark came following Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma's comments comparing the bearded look of Rahul Gandhi to that of late Iraqi politician Saddam Hussein. Congress spokesperson Lavanya Ballal also responded to Irani's tweet and said that the minister's “obsession and hate for Rahul Gandhi has reached ridiculous heights.”
Incidentally, Irani's tweets coincided with Gandhi's declaration in MP that the decision to contest again from Amethi would be taken after one or one-and-a-half years. Addressing a press conference near Indore, Gandhi, the Lok Sabha member from Wayanad in Kerala said that at present, his focus is on the Bharat Jodo Yatra. Union minister Smriti Irani defeated Rahul Gandhi in his family's bastion Amethi in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Gandhi, however, has been quick to defend himself against attacks by the ruling party. On comments over his attire and looks during the yatra, Gandhi said, "The problem with the BJP is that its spends thousands of crore to tarnish my image. But, the amount of money it would spend on tarnishing my image, I would get the same amount of strength as truth cannot be hidden."
"Personal attacks come as you fight against a big power...this shows that I am on the right path. The BJP's personal attacks on me are my guru, which have taught me the right path, he said.
"I am gradually understanding the ideology of the BJP and the RSS," he said.
Meanwhile, Gandhi was joined on Friday by his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and other family members on Friday who together performed the 'Ma Narmada' aarti at Omkareshwar. The Gandhi siblings lit diyas and Rahul Gandhi offered a chunari to the river at Brahmapuri ghat.
The Yatra led headed for Ujjain from Indore on Monday, the sixth day of its Madhya Pradesh leg.
(With inputs from PTI)
