Lucknow: Defending the use of image of Lord Ram as a backdrop during Narendra Modi`s rally in Faizabad, BJP Tuesday said even the original copies of the Constitution had images of Hindu deities.
Speaking to reporters here, president of BJP`s state unit, Laxmikant Bajpai said "perturbed" Congress was raising the issue because of `Modi phobia`.
"They should know the original Constitution had images of Ram, Laxman and Sita on the Fundamental Rights pages whereas the Directive Principles page had images of Lord Krishna and other pages had images of Nataraj and other deities," Bajpai said.
Modi addressed a rally in Faizabad yesterday in support of party candidate Lallu Singh from a dais which had pictures of Lord Ram and the proposed Ram temple model in Ayodhya.
At the rally, the BJP PM candidate skirted any reference to his party`s pet theme of building Ram temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya, which is the epicentre of Ram Mandir movement, but made several references to Lord Ram to exhort people to defeat Congress, SP and BSP and support BJP.
Congress had accused Modi of using religion for canvassing by putting out Lord Ram`s portrait in the backdrop at his rally and approached the Election Commission demanding registration of an FIR against him and other party leaders as well as derecognition of BJP.
The EC is looking into the remarks made by Modi and has sought a report from the district authorities about his speech and the stage backdrop.
If the Constitution had images of Gods and Goddesses, how was it illegal to have poster of Lord Ram on the stage for Modi`s rally, Bajpai asked.
He also said that these photos were removed in 1961 at the time of reprinting of the Constitution.
