Salman Khurshid takes to Facebook after 'roasting' over calling Rahul Gandhi a 'superhuman'

Congress leader Salman Khurshid, who recently courted controversy over his alleged remarks comparing former party president Rahul Gandhi with Lord Ram, took to Facebook on Monday morning to share a lengthy post in which he said that looking for godly attributes, real or imagined, in a leader may not be a rationalistic position but all religions try to narrow the gap between the human and divine.

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"The media has been roasting me for their imagined sense that I saw Lord Ram in Rahul Gandhi. Surprisingly, several persons I thought to be sensible joined the chorus on 'sycophancy'. All I had said was that Rahul  Gandhi could not come to every part of UP, but we were carrying his 'kharaun' to reach his message. Hindi media went berserk about Rahul Gandhi being 'compared' to Lord Ram. The use of an analogy from the life of Lord Ram, I believe, is part of our Indian heritage. Do we not draw Lakshman Rekha in our everyday conversation? And if I were to say he was God, it would at best be metaphorical surely," he said. 

"Enriching language with allusions and similes for someone we admire, from the life of the avatar of Bhagwan, can hardly be a denigration of the holy being. But who is to battle TRPs! For the uninformed, it might be useful to reflect on simile, allusion, illusion, metaphor, idiom, godly, godfearing, 'muhavra', 'roopanter', 'roopak'. The world is not what you might think it is and you cannot make it something by saying so," Khurshid further said.
 
"Looking for godly attributes, real or imagined, in a leader may not be a rationalistic position, but all religions try to narrow the gap between the human and divine. Popular Hinduism describes God being present in every particle: 'kan kan mein Bhagwan'. The Bhakti movement was based on immersing oneself in devotion to God. So did Sufism by seeking to obliterate an individual’s identity to unite with God," he sought to know.

The Facebook post comes a day before Rahul Gandhi resumes his Bharat Jodo Yatra. The Yatra would enter Uttar Pradesh on January 3 through Loni in Ghaziabad.

The controversy erupted when Khurshid responded to queries about why Rahul was not feeling cold in Delhi and roaming around the city in a T-shirt. He reportedly responded by saying that "Rahul Gandhi is superhuman. While we are freezing in the cold, he is going out in T-shirts (for his Bharat Jodo Yatra)." Equating Bharat Jodo Yatra with Lord Ram's yatra, Khurshid said, "Lord Ram's 'khadau' (footwear) goes very far. Sometimes when Ram ji was not able to reach, Bharat took the 'khadau' and went to places. Like that, we (Congress workers) have carried the 'khadau' in Uttar Pradesh. Now that 'khadau' has reached Uttar Pradesh. Ram ji (Rahul Gandhi) will also come."

Following the remarks,the BJP slammed the sycophancy of the Congress leaders to appease the Gandhi family. 

In his Facebook post on Monday, Khurshid asked: "When the media or political persons fail to or refuse to accept the allusions I use to enrich the language of my public discourse, it makes me wonder if one should surrender to mediocrity without ado. Our religions are sublime and philosophical but are under threat of being reduced to platitudes and self-serving, narrow, meaningless political calculations. Will God ever forgive us?"

Read the full post below:

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• Salman Khurshid
• lord ram
• rahul gandhi