Kangra (Himachal Pradesh), Apr 28 (NDTV): Yoga guru Ramdev, who has been banned from campaigning in Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh, today said it is Sonia Gandhi who has insulted Dalits, not him.
Baba Ramdev, as he is known, has been censured by the Election Commission for "malicious" recent remarks on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. The powerful commission said the comments amounted to an "attack on personal life" and were offensive and designed to create "disharmony among different classes or groups of people."
Ramdev, 43, had said at a rally in Lucknow last week that Mr Gandhi visits the homes of Dalits for "a honeymoon" and to "picnic." Those remarks have been derided by a series of parties as anti-Dalit; the BJP, for whom Ramdev has been campaigning, has said the comments were misunderstood.
Mr Gandhi, who represents Amethi in Uttar Pradesh in Parliament, has been attacked by the BJP for his stopovers at the homes of Dalit families in the state. The BJP has said the visits amount to little more than orchestrated photo-ops, a charge Ramdev repeated today.
Today, Mr Gandhi countered those charges at a public meeting in Punjab. "The BJP and Narendra Modi have always made fun of me whenever I visit Dalits, they have been saying various things about it. I can't remember if Mr Modi has paid a visit to any Dalit, even though he does eat at the house of Mr Adani, who is a rich man," he said.
Mr Gandhi, who is fronting the Congress campaign for the national election, has accused the BJP's prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi, of showing undue favour to the large Adani Group in Gujarat, where he is serving his fourth term as chief minister.
The charges of crony capitalism are meant to repudiate the BJP's strong emphasis on Mr Modi's economic development of Gujarat as proof of his ability to serve as a strong leader who will revive India's sluggish economy and create jobs.