New Delhi: Asserting that it wants a grand Ram Mandir in Ayodhya and will wait for the court’s verdict on the issue, the BJP on Monday asked Congress president Rahul Gandhi to clarify whether or not he is a Hindu after Congress leader Shashi Tharoor’s reported remarks on the Ram temple set off a political controversy. Mr Tharoor came under fire over his reported remark that no “good Hindu” wants to see the Ram temple built by demolishing somebody else’s place of worship, which he later clarified. Taking on the Congress and its leaders, the BJP said while Mr Gandhi “visits temples and says that he is janeudhari brahmin”, his party colleague “says no to the Ram temple ... good cop versus bad cop being played by the Congress”.

The BJP accused the Congress of using its leaders to build up a momentum against building of a Ram temple. BJP national spokesman and Rajya Sabha member G.V.L. Narasimha Rao said his party wants an early verdict from the Supreme Court on the Ram temple case but the Congress was trying everything to delay it. He alleged that Congress leaders had earlier filed a plea in the court to delay the matter and that Mr Tharoor was the latest to join the bandwagon by linking the construction of a temple with the “demolition of a disputed structure” that happened decades back.

“You (Congress) are conspiring to ensure that there is no verdict from the court,” said Mr Rao. He alleged that the Congress was doing “votebank politics” and recalled how Mr Gandhi had earlier claimed that his party was a “Muslims’ party”.

Mr Rao said Mr Gandhi wears his “Shiv bhakti” (devotion to Lord Shiv) on his sleeve, but he should answer whether he is a Hindu or not.

Speaking at an event in Chennai, Mr Tharoor had said as a Hindu he was very conscious that a vast majority of his fellow Hindus believe this (the site in Ayodhya) was the specific birthplace of Lord Ram. “And for that reason most good Hindus would want to see a Ram temple at the site where Ram was supposed to be born. But I also believe no good Hindu would have wanted to see the temple built by demolishing somebody else’s place of worship,” he said, a reference to the razing of the Babri Masjid in December 1992.

Reacting to this, human resources development minister Prakash Javadekar said: “Astonished that Shashi Tharoor believes that true Hindus don’t want a Ram temple in Ayodhya. This could be a view of Tharoor or Rahul Gandhi, not of the people. This shows how cut off they are from reality and how they only become Hindu during elections.”

Uttar Pradesh minister Siddharth Nath Singh also tweeted on the issue: “#RahulGandhi visits temples and says he is Janeu Dhari Brahmin and #ShashiTharoor says no to Ram Temple, good cop bad cop being played by Congress party”.