Information & broadcasting minister Anurag Singh Thakur on Sunday sought to attack Rahul Gandhi without naming him, calling him an “electoral Hindu”, in an apparent response to the Congress MP’s essay on what it means to be a Hindu.

“Hindutva teaches us harmony and awakens the feeling of welfare of all. It is easy to write long articles on Hindu religion and Hindutva, but bringing Hindutva into life, putting it into practice and living it is not within the reach of an ‘electoral Hindu’,” Thakur said in a post on X.

Ironically, while Thakur stressed that “Hindutva teaches harmony”, he as a Union minister had been served a notice by the Election Commission for urging the crowd at an election rally to say “goli maaro” (shoot down) traitors during the last Delhi polls in 2020.

The minister in his long post on X said: “Some people whose very life and politics are based on the axis of anti-Hinduism, who have dedicated their body, mind and wealth to denigrating Hindus...are today preaching Hinduism in a false guise”.

Barring Thakur, no other key BJP leader chose to attack Rahul for his article on Hinduism. Led by PM Modi most ministers and BJP leaders were busy on Sunday participating in the cleanliness drive events, ahead of Gandhi Jayanti on Monday.

Modi addressed a rally in poll-bound Telengana on Sunday and chose to attack both the ruling BRS in the state and the Congress for being parties “of the family, by the family and for the family”. He avoided any mention of Rahul.

Modi said the progress of Telengana has been blocked by the two family run parties and claimed that the BJP can only give a “transparent and people oriented government” in the state.