On Monday (September 26), Rahul Gandhi courted controversy after he met the Indian Youth Congress (IYC) leader, who slaughtered a cow in broad daylight in 2017 to mock Hindu sentiments.
Rijil Chandran Makkutty, the said IYC leader, had posted about the development on his official Facebook page. The meeting took place in Pattambi town in the Palakkad district of Kerala as part of Rahul Gandhi’s ambitious programme, ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra.’
Rijil, who is currently serving as the Vice-President (Kerala) of the Indian Youth Congress, followed it up with another Facebook post on Thursday (September 30).
He claimed, “Yes, RSS is the enemy of the country. Rahul Gandhi is speaking out, without any hesitation, against RSS hate politics. Yes, we can join hands against the hate politics of Sangh Parivar.” Rijil Chandran Makkutty also reminisced the excitement he experienced while meeting the Congress scion.
In 2017, in defiance against the centre’s move to enforce a ban on cow slaughter, Rijil Makkutty along with his aides dragged a calf and brutally slaughtered it. The cow is considered a sacred animal by Hindus and the act of publically slaughtering a calf was meant to send a strong signal to Hindus and a pro-Hindu government at the centre.
Mr Gandhi,
— Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga (@TajinderBagga) May 28, 2017
Bahane nahi chalenge,he is ur close aid & doing everything on ur instructions.If you are serious then take action against him pic.twitter.com/WBwl9dp6YY
Rahul Gandhi was then forced to undo the damage. “What happened in Kerala yesterday is thoughtless, barbaric& completely unacceptable to me & the Congress Party. I strongly condemn the incident,” he had tweeted.
However, the charade of having a genuine concern for the feelings of Hindus stood exposed as Makkutty continued to remain involved in party activities. The agony expressed by Rahul Gandhi on Social Media and the supposed ‘suspension’ of Rijil appeared as an eyewash.
The fact that Rahul had allowed Makkutty to continue to work for the Kerala State Congress unit asserted that he had no compunction in associating himself with someone who had wantonly hurt the Hindu sentiments by butchering a calf. The pictures of Rijil along with Rahul and Priyanka, in the runup to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, are a testimony to it.
Rahul Gandhi and his ‘Hindu credentials’
In November 2017, the Congress party announced that Rahul Gandhi is a ‘janeu dhari‘ Hindu after he reportedly declared himself a ‘non-Hindu’ before the darshan of the Somnath temple.
The assertion by the Congress was questioned by social media users who hinted towards a possible catholic origin of the Congress scion. A year later, Rahul Gandhi told a priest in Pushkar that he is a ‘Kashmiri Brahmin’ and his gotra is ‘Dattatreya.’
In 2020, the Congress party went on to celebrate the birth anniversary of Periyar, who advocated physical violence against Brahmins. Rahul Gandhi, the Janeu dhari Hindu, also gave up his ‘sacred thread’ for politics and joined the Lingayat sect in Karnataka.
On September 9 this year, Rahul Gandhi met a rabid anti-Hindu pastor, George Ponnaiah, as part of his ambitious mass mobilisation programme ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra.’ In a video that went viral on social media, the Congress scion was seen learning about Jesus Christ from the pastor. “But, He is not God? Or is he God? Jesus is also God?” he asked.
At that point, Father George Ponnaiah intervened and claimed that Jesus is the ‘real God’, unlike ‘Sakthi & other Hindu gods. The rabid Hindu hater said, “He (Jesus Christ) is a real God, revealed as a human person. Not like Sakthi and all.”
Rahul Gandhi, who otherwise claims to be a janeu dhari Brahmin, remained a mute spectator to the direct insinuation by the Christian pastor that the Hindu deities are unreal and imaginary.
