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Congress’ Dwivedi shares stage with RSS’ Mohan Bhagwat
Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla, Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, BJP’s Delhi unit head Manoj Tewari and other BJP MPs were also present.
Congress leader Janardan Dwivedi shared a dais with Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat at an international festival on Bhagwad Gita in the national capital on Sunday. Dwivedi, former Congress general secretary, was sitting in the front row along with Bhagwat, union minister Smriti Irani, Ram temple activist Sadhvi Rithambra and other spiritual leaders at a conclave in Delhi’s Red Fort on the importance and relevance of Gita.
Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla, Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, BJP’s Delhi unit head Manoj Tewari and other BJP MPs were also present.
Dwivedi later clarified that he came to the event in an “individual capacity” and not as a Congress leader.
Asked about Dwivedi’s sharing the dais with Bhagwat, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said, “Bhagwad Gita does not belong only to Mohan Bhagwat and his organisation. We breathe the same air as Mohan Bhagwat. Does that mean we share his views? I don’t understand this question. If there is an event to celebrate Bhagwad Gita, people from different ideologies have every right to attend such functions and I don’t see anything wrong in that.”
Dwivedi was dropped from the Congress Working Committee (CWC) in a reshuffle in July last year. His support to the government on abrogation of Article 370 was contradictory to the stand taken by the Congress on the issue.
