Video Producer: Aparna Singh
Video Editor: Mohd. Irshad Alam
When a journalist asked Congress leader Rahul Gandhi how the Bharat Jodo Yatra changed his image, during a press conference, he replied, “Rahul Gandhi is in your mind. I’ve killed him. He’s gone.”
Responding to the reporter’s question, he said, “The person you are looking at is not Rahul Gandhi. You can see him. You don’t understand it… Read Hindu scriptures. Read about Lord Shiva, you will understand. Don’t be surprised. Rahul Gandhi is in your head, not mine. He is in the BJP’s head, not mine.”
In the video that has now gone viral, he added that he is not bothered by his image.
He said, “Image does not bother me. You create the image you want. Good or bad, that’s yours, not mine. I have to do my work.”
On 8 January, he made another statement that came under the spotlight. He said that India was a country of ‘tapasvis’ (ascetics) and not, ‘pujaris’ (priests) when asked if he was a ‘tapasvi’. However, BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla accused Gandhi of denigrating ‘pujaris’.
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