Congress today stepped up its attack on Narendra Modi who had criticised Rahul Gandhi's "beehive" remark saying that metaphors denoting cohesion and unity were beyond the comprehension of "self appointed jingoists."
"Amusing- Metaphors denoting energy diligence cohesion and focus unity of purpose completely go over the heads of some self appointed jingoists," I&B minister Manish Tewari said in a post on 'twitter' in an apparent reference to the Gujarat Chief Minister.
Tewari also said that one of the avatars of Devi- Mother Goddess -- is 'Bhramari', the honey bee according to the Puranas temple of goddess in Uttarakhand. Tewari posted that he hoped his tweet "would enrich understanding of those who politicise religion but have not found time to study India's spiritual traditions."
Another Union Minister Rajiv Shukla also hit out at Modi saying the Congress did not need lessons from patriotism from BJP as none of its leader "had fought for the freedom of the country".
"He (Modi) is talking about Bharat Mata. I mean not even a single BJP leader fought for the freedom movement for Bharat Mata," Shukla said.
He also added that Modi was giving lessons to someone whose father and grandmother had died for the country.
"What is he talking about? First he should learn how the sacrifices are made for Bharat Mata. There has been no sacrifice from any BJP leader so far for the country. It's clearly lip service that he is doing. And I don't think we should even respond," Shukla said.
Without naming Gandhi, Modi said at a BJP programme to mark the party's 33rd foundation day yesterday that he was "deeply shocked and very pained" to hear a Congress leader describe the country as a beehive.
"Is this the way the Congress thinks? I want to tell my Congress friends that they may think of this nation as a beehive but for us this nation is a mother," Modi had said.
He "pleaded" with the Congress not to insult the "mother". "If you (Congress) don't understand India, then learn from others but don't insult the country," Modi had said.
