Daijiworld Media Network

New Delhi, May 17: All India Congress Committee president Rahul Gandhi took a dig at BJP leaders who are patronising Mahatma Gandhi's killer Nathuram Godse.

Rahul Gandhi played with words and tweeted, “I finally got it. The BJP and the RSS... Are not God-Ke Lovers. They are God-Se Lovers.”

Almost 70 years after Godse was hanged for killing Mahatma Gandhi, he became a talking point during the current Lok Sabha elections.

The episode started when actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan at a public meeting in Tamil Nadu on May 12 said, "Free India’s first terrorist was a Hindu, his name is Nathuram Godse. There it [terrorism] starts.”

To this, Bhopal candidate Pragya Thakur replied, “Nathuram Godse was a ‘deshbhakt’, is a deshbhakt and will remain a deshbhakt. People calling him a terrorist should instead look within. Such people will be given a befitting reply in these elections.”

Soon, Union Minister Anantkumar Hegde and Dakshina Kannada MP Nalin Kateel backed Godse in their tweets.

Meanwhile, BJP leader from Madhya Pradesh Anil Saumitra triggered another controversy saying, “Mahatma Gandhi was Pakistan’s father of the nation”.

While Saumitra was suspended from the primary membership of the party, Pragya, Nalin and Anantkumar were issued notice by BJP’s disciplinary committee.

Amit Shah took to twitter saying the statements of the BJP leaders are their personal opinions and BJP has nothing to do with them. "Still these statements, made in public, go against BJP's ideology and dignity and are being taken seriously," he tweeted.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi came down heavily against the BJP leaders and said these statements are not tolerated in a civilized society. “Though Pragya has apologized, in my heart, I cannot forgive her,” Modi told a media channel.