New Delhi: Congress leader and former MP Udit Raj on Thursday accused the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) of hypocrisy saying its government spent crores of rupees for Kumbh Mela but is objecting to teaching of Quran in Madrasas.
Udit Raj said this after his comments posted on Twitter infuriated the BJP - the party ruling in Uttar Pradesh as well as New Delhi.
Udit Raj, who was earlier in BJP but later joined the Congress, wrote on Twitter:
"No religious teachings & rituals to be funded by the Government. The state doesn't have its own religion. UP govt spent Rs 4,200 crore in organising the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad and that too was wrong."
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The Congress leader said that his tweet was in reaction to Assam minister Himanta Biswa Sarma's remark that if the state government is bearing the cost of teaching the Quran in Madrassas, then Bible and Bhagavad Gita should also be taught by the government.
"In my opinion, teaching 'Quran' can't happen at the cost of government money, if we have to do so then we should also teach both the Bible and Bhagavad Gita. So, we want to bring uniformity and stop this practice", Sarma had said.
The Assam government has decided to close down all the state-run Madrassas and Sanskrit tols (schools) as it "can't afford to teach religious scriptures with public funds".
Udit Raj's twitter post and questioning the expenditure incurred by the government for organising the Kumbh Mela, however did not go down well with the BJP.
Dragging Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi and demanding a response from her, UP BJP leader Siddharth Nath Singh said, "Priyanka Gandhi should answer whether the government should spend on Kumbh Mela. We are proud that we have spent on Kumbh Mela and the next one will be even more grand."
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