'Never said Modi was first Hindu leader in 800 years', Rajnath Singh tells CPM

Singh asked CPM leader to tender an apology over his statement

New Delhi:

Lok Sabha was adjourned for an hour on Monday following uproar over a CPI(M) member's allegation against Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh. While participating in the intolerance debate, CPI(M)'s Mohd. Salim accused Singh of calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi India's 'first Hindu ruler after 800 years'.

Singh immediately rubbished the allegation and challenged the leader to either prove it or issue an apology.

“I am deeply hurt by Mohd Salim's statement, have never been this hurt in my political career,” the Home Minister said in his defence.

The CPI(M) leader claimed that he made the allegation based on a magazine report and asked Rajnath Singh to send a legal notice to the publication.

BJP rallied behind Rajnath Singh and hit out at CPI(M) for making a serious allegation.

“It has become the habit of people to say something sensational and take a quote out of context,” said Venkaiah Naidu, dismissing Mohd Salim's statement against Rajnath Singh.

In November 2014, it was VHP leader Ashok Singhal who stirred controversy by saying that 'power had returned to a Hindu swabhimani (proud Hindu)\" in Delhi after eight centuries'.

\"Eight hundred years after it (the power at Delhi) went away form Prithviraj Chauhan, it did not come into the hands of a proud Hindu. It has happened after 800 years,\" Singhal had said while addressing an audience at the inaugural session of the three-day World Hindi Congress in 2014.