By IANS,
New Delhi: The Congress Thursday steered clear of questions about the religion of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, saying the query was irrelevant and she was a proud Indian.
Replying to questions of Gandhi’s religion in the wake of a newspaper report that refered to her as a Christian in a speech by India’s ambassador to the US Meera Shankar had been deleted from the embassy website, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said she was the “proud president of a proud political party”.
“It is an irrelevant question. She is a proud Indian. She is proud president of a proud political party with a long Indian heritage,” Singhvi said.
According to the newspaper report, Meera Shankar had delivered a speech at a US university referring to Sonia Gandhi being a Christian as a testament to India’s pluralism and diversity. However, that reference was later deleted.
The newspaper said that an unedited video of Shankar’s address had been posted on YouTube.
A division bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court had last November dismissed a petition filed by a former Haryana director general of police on whether the Registrar General, Census Operations, is bound to provide details of the religion and faith of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and her children under the Right to Information Act.
The bench dismissed the plea and ruled the information demanded on the religion of an individual is entirely personal.