Bangalore: A senior RSS functionary has courted controversy by questioning who allowed a Muslim minister to enter temples in a south Karnataka district.

Kalladka Prabhakar Bhat, a zonal executive council member of the RSS, made the remarks against minister for food and public distribution and local MLA U.T. Khader in Mangalore on Thursday while addressing a protest meeting demanding immediate legal action against cow thieves.

Recent incidents of theft of cows and calves from Mangalore, particularly from a shelter run by an ashram, had earned the police criticism.

Khader had recently visited a few temples in the city and its surroundings. Bhat objected to the minister being welcomed by the temple authorities.

"Has the priest lost his mind that he welcomed him with boolya (a ceremonial reception with betel leaves on a platter)?" Bhat is heard bellowing in a video being circulated on social media on Friday. "He eats beef. Who invited him to the temple?" Bhat added.

"Any temple visited by Khader must be cleaned and a Bhrahmakalashotsava (a cleansing ceremony with holy water) conducted," Bhat went on. The RSS leader accused the minister of knowing the cow thieves. "I feel he should be stopped from entering temples. He knows the cow thieves as many of them are with him."

An RSS spokesperson was cagey in his response to Bhat's diatribe, merely saying: "We don't comment on what our senior leaders say."

The scathing attacking on the minister has not gone down well with the ruling Congress.

Khader could not be reached for comment as he is on a pilgrimage to Mecca. Bhat too was unavailable for comment.

K.E. Radhakrishna, vice-president of the state Congress, condemned Bhat's statements, saying: "He has lost his mental balance."

"Coastal Karnataka has a tradition of Muslim artisans building temples and chariots and Christian women supplying flowers for the rituals even today. But the Amit Shahs and Bhats fail to understand such a syncretic culture," Radhakrishna said.

"The whole culture of these people is so disgustingly low that they cannot accept a popular leader like Khader who doesn't belong to their communal ideology," he added. The president of the Dakshina Kannada unit of the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, Mohammed Kunji, described Bhat's remarks as highly objectionable.

"The statement is also against the Constitution since Khader is a local MLA and a minister who has the responsibility of checking on the welfare of everyone, irrespective of their religion, and visit any place of worship," Kunji told this newspaper.

"What he (Bhat) said is against India's inclusive and secular culture that encourages people to visit every place of worship and understand each other," Kunji added.