Rahul's remarks anti-Hindu: BJP

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday expressed outrage over Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's remarks that the Babri mosque would not have been demolished had his family been active in politics at the time, terming them as an an insult to 'Hindu sentiments'.

"We are shocked to see how this young man and his party can stoop so low to please Muslims that they can go all out to insult sentiments of the Hindu community. His remarks show that his family is now all opposed to construction of a Ram temple at that site, which is highly condemnable," senior BJP leader Vijay Kumar Malhotra told PTI.

He recalled that late prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru had banned entry of Muslim worshippers to Babri in 1949 and that Rahul Gandhi's father Rajiv Gandhi opened its gates to Hindu worshippers as prime minister.

"In a way Rahul Gandhi had shown disrespect to his own father and grandfather but the larger issue is about the sentiments of the Hindu community which he has hurt badly," Malhotra said.

During his election campaign in Muslim-dominated Deoband, Rahul Gandhi had claimed that the Babri Masjid would not have been demolished had the Gandhi family been active in politics in 1992.