By IANS
New Delhi : Saying that Ram was integral to Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Rajnath Singh Wednesday asked Congress chief Sonia Gandhi to drop her surname if her party did not believe in the existence of the Hindu god.
Singh said that the Congress was putting a question mark on Gandhi’s ideals by questioning Lord Ram’s existence – a reference to an affidavit the central government filed before the Supreme Court last month before withdrawing it.
“Sonia and her family use Gandhi with their name. They should drop this,” he said while addressing a meeting of the BJP’s Kisan Morcha here.
The controversial affidavit said there was no scientific proof of the existence of Lord Ram or the Ram Sethu that Hindus believe was built to help him cross over to what was then Lanka.
The government was defending the Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project in the sea dividing India and Sri Lanka that the BJP and several Hindu groups oppose, saying it will damage the Ram Sethu or Adam’s Bridge.
“If Lord Ram did not exist, then it means the preachings of Gandhiji were all wrong. The Congress president has Gandhi in her surname. Her children also carry the Gandhi surname. Then I think they should reconsider,” Singh said.
He said that the father of the nation had always dreamt of a ‘Ram Rajya’ (‘The rule of Ram’) in independent India and his spiritual vision was of “Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram”.
Singh reminded the audience that the Mahatma had died with the words “Hey Ram” on his lips.