On July 1, Friday, around a million devotees from across the country have congregated at Puri to attend the auspicious Jagannath Rath Yatra after a hiatus of two years owing to the Covid pandemic. People from all walks of life have taken to various social media platforms to wish Hindus whole-heartedly on the occasion of the famous Rath Yatra festival of Lord Jagannath. Congress senior leader Rahul Gandhi, too, extended greetings but was ‘careful’ not to share any images of Hindu deities, as usual.
The Gandhi scion’s greeting adhered to his habit of not posting any images of Hindu gods or goddesses while conveying his wishes. In his Tweet posted today morning, Rahul Gandhi included an infographic with the word “Rath Yatra” and a picture of three ’empty’ chariots. As is customary with the Congress leader, Lord Jagannath, Devi Subhadra, and Lord Balabhadra’s images were absent from the image he used to send his wishes to Hindus celebrating the occasion.
सभी देशवासियों को महाप्रभु श्री जगन्नाथ रथयात्रा के पावन अवसर पर हार्दिक शुभकामनाएं।
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) July 1, 2022
मैं कामना करता हूं कि श्रद्धा और आस्था से भरी ये यात्रा आप सबके जीवन में सुख, समृद्धि, शांति और बेहतर स्वास्थ्य लाए। #RathYatra pic.twitter.com/BqYt5K3xBu
His Tweet, on the occasion of Rath Yatra in Hindi, read, “Hearty greetings to all the countrymen on the auspicious occasion of Mahaprabhu Shri Jagannath Rath Yatra. I wish that this journey filled with reverence and faith brings happiness, prosperity, peace and better health in all your lives. #RathYatra.” It, however, did not have the images of the three Hindu deities to whom the annual festival of Rath Yatra is dedicated.
Rahul Gandhi and his habit of not using images of deities to wish on Hindu festivals
This is, however, not the first time that the Congress leader has avoided sharing any images of Hindu Gods on his social media wishes. On the occasion of Ram Navami in April, Rahul Gandhi had resorted to similar antics. He had posted an infographic that read, “Shree Ram Navami”, pierced by an arrow. Interestingly, the image of Prabhu Ram was missing from the image.
A month prior to this, Gandhi-scion Rahul Gandhi was caught shaming ‘Hindus’ on the occasion of Saraswati Puja as he politicised the festival by dragging the hijab row.
Last year, the Congress leader had wished his followers on the auspicious occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi. He had shared a graphic with the inscription “Ganesh Chaturthi ki hardik shubhkamnaye”. However, one crucial element is missing from the tweet. The image of Lord Ganesh himself.
In another instance, Rahul Gandhi had wished Hindus on the occasion of Shri Krishna Janmasthami. However, the image of Bal Gopal or baby Krishna, the deity who is worshipped on the occasion of Janmashtami, was missing.
In June last year, Rahul Gandhi’s Ratha Yatra tweet just had the image of Puri Jagannath temple.
Again during Maha Shivarathri, Rahul Gandhi put out an image of the Kailash mountains instead of posting Lord Shiva’s images, or his symbols in his tweet.
The habitual act of Rahul Gandhi to avoid sharing images of Hindu Gods in his tweets has often triggered discussions on social media platforms as to whether it is to ‘appease’ or confirm certain Abrahamic beliefs. Netizens have time and again accused Rahul Gandhi of mistreating Hindus and Hindu festivals and often hinted at a larger plan of Congress leader’s attempt to secularise Hindu festivals.
Many social media users have speculated that Rahul Gandhi is probably inspired by the Abrahamic religions like Islam and Christianity which do not support the existence of numerous gods or the human representation of those gods. In Islam, the representation of idols and gods in human form is prohibited as it is considered ‘haram.’ Most of the tweets by Rahul Gandhi resonate with such beliefs
