Congress general secretary Ajay Maken on Monday hit out at Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi over his secularism comment, saying that the 'veil of secularism' is much better than 'naked communalism'.
"I believe the veil of secularism is way better than the nakedness of communalism," Maken told media here.
Modi had on Sunday charged the Congress with wearing the "burqa (veil) of secularism" and "hiding in a bunker" each time it is confronted with a crisis.
Addressing a public meeting in Pune, Modi also attacked Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on the issue of his party's "failure" to eradicate poverty and alleged that it was raising the bogey of "threat to secularism" to throttle people's aspirations.
Modi also blamed the Congress for the deteriorating economic condition of the country, and specifically targeted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, a great economist, for failing to prevent the free fall of the rupee.
"When India achieved Independence, that time one Indian rupee was equivalent to one U.S. dollar. Today, the Indian rupee is in a free fall. What is the reason behind the free fall of the rupee? It is because the Congress is neck-deep in corruption," he said.