New Delhi, Sep 30 (IANS) : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday launched a scathing attack on Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy over his remarks on Lord Ram and Lord Shiv and said that Congress plans to “divide the Hindu society for Muslim rule”.
The BJP slammed Reddy and accused him of attempting to divide communities for political gains.
Speaking at a media event in the national capital, Reddy questioned the BJP’s repeated use of the slogan “Jai Shri Ram” and asked why Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other BJP leaders do not similarly chant “Har Har Mahadev”.
“We are Dravidians. Here (North India), people are Aryans. We are devotees of Shiva, while people here are devotees of Lord Ram. BJP stole Ram. It’s an emotion; a sentiment. Why does Modi ji not say, ‘Har Har Mahadev’? Have you ever seen BJP people say ‘Har Har Mahadev’ on stage? They only say, ‘Jai Sri Ram’. When we chant ‘Har Har Mahadev’, they don’t like it,” Reddy stated.
The Telangana Chief Minister also described Lord Shiva as the “God of the poor” and Lord Ram as the “God of the rich”, while adding that both deities are revered by people.
Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters in New Delhi, BJP national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said, “You all saw that atheist Rahul Gandhi’s party… I am saying this with evidence. In 2014, he took the oath in the name of God, while in 2024, he did not. He said, ‘solemnly affirm,’ not ‘swear in the name of God’… That party’s leader, Telangana CM Revanth Reddy, who has already declared that ‘Congress means Muslim; Muslim means Congress’ during the Jubilee Hills by-polls, wants to work for every conspiracy that wants to divide the Hindu community, that wants to divide the country into North and South.”
Citing the remarks made by Congress leaders in the past, Trivedi said, “Karnataka Finance Minister D.K. Suresh has claimed that the South is giving more tax than the North; Chidambaram sahab has said, ‘The South would have progressed more if North India had not existed’. And now, Telangana CM Revanth Reddy is saying North Indians are Aryan and South Indians are Dravidians… He doesn’t know his own history, his leaders’ history… This is the same Revanth Reddy who made remarks about Bihar’s DNA.”
He claimed that the Congress leaders want to divide the nation based on language, caste, and gender.
“Smash patriarchy is only for Hindus. When Kerala’s Grant Mufti says that women should be confined to their homes, then these Congress leaders who shout ‘smash patriarchy’ suddenly go silent… Now, they have come to the point of dividing the Gods; this is the lowest point in the country’s politics,” the BJP leader said.
Trivedi said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the Lok Sabha MP from Varanasi, home to the revered Kashi Vishwanath Temple (one of the 12 sacred Jyotirlingas of Lord Shiva), and has chanted ‘Har Har Mahadev’ countless times.
“Revanth Reddy doesn’t know, or maybe someone is making him say all this. PM Modi is a parliamentarian from Kashi, the land of Baba Vishwanath. There are several videos of him chanting ‘Har Har Mahadev’. However, on the other hand, you cannot find one video of Rahul Gandhi doing the same,” he said.
He mentioned that when India’s Chandrayaan-3 reached the Moon’s south pole, Prime Minister Modi named the landing site ‘Shiv Shakti’ Point. PM Modi had stated that “Shiv” represents a resolution for the welfare of humanity, while “Shakti” provides the strength to achieve it. He also noted that “Shakti” honours the nation’s women scientists (Nari Shakti) who contributed to the mission.
The BJP spokesperson also mentioned the visits PM Modi made to several Lord Shiva temples.
He also mentioned the Tirupati Balaji Temple and said that “Telangana and Andhra are considered to be the place of Lord Venkateswara.”
“In Lord Venkateswara’s temple, every day a Lord Ram darbar is worshipped, and it is called Shri Raghunath Parviaram. I would like to ask Revanth Reddy and other Congress leaders that there is a very famous phrase used that Lord Venkateswara is the family of Lord Ram…. The British used a ‘divide and rule’ policy; however, Congress plans to divide the Hindus for Muslim rule. That is why Rahul has chosen a constituency with a Muslim majority,” Trivedi said.
“While running the government with the Muslim League, the Islamic influence has been ingrained in Congress in such a way that they now want to divide the Gods of Hindu society,” he added.
