Smriti Irani shares her ‘Gotra’, while BJP targets RaGa again

As the country is preparing for the upcoming General Assembly elections 2019, there are handful of people who are still concerned with issues that has little or no relevance in day-today life of the living. Recently in Rajasthan, a priest’s claim on Rahul Gandhi’s ‘gotra’ was far from the last word on the subject at the height of the ongoing election season.

Today morning, Union Cabinet Minister of Textiles, While replying to a question raised by a Twitterati during a fiery debate fuelled by reports on Rahul Gandhi’s gotra, Smriti Irani said, “My gotra is Kaushal Sir as is my father’s as was his father’s and his father’s and his father’s… My husband and children are Zoroastrians so can’t have a gotra. The sindoor I wear is my belief as a practising Hindu. Now get back to your life, (sic).”

My gotra is Kaushal Sir as is my father’s as was his father’s and his father’s and his father’s…My husband and children are Zoroastrians so can’t have a gotra. The sindoor I wear is my belief as a practising Hindu. Now get back to your life. धन्यवाद?

— Smriti Z Irani (@smritiirani) November 28, 2018

Later, Smriti Irani posted a disclaimer on the same.

Public Disclaimer —- as a public figure when asked questions (no matter how infuriating )it is my responsibility to respond however as an Indian let me proudly say मेरा धर्म हिंदुस्तान है मेरा कर्म हिंदुस्तान है मेरी आस्था हिंदुस्तान है मेरा विश्वास हिंदुस्तान है ?

— Smriti Z Irani (@smritiirani) November 28, 2018

Notably, the much to be avoided political sparring over ‘gotra’ intensified after a priest in Rajasthan — where Rahul Gandhi made a stop while campaigning for the December 7 state election — claimed that he was familiar with the ‘gotra’ of not just the Congress president but also his ancestors.

On Monday, a priest at a temple on the banks of the river Pushkar told reporters, “His gotra is Dattatreya. Dattatreya are Kauls and Kauls are Kashmiri Brahmin,” Dinanath Kaul, .

According to Hinduism, ‘Gotra’ refers to a clan or descendants from a common ancestor.

The priest also claimed to have old records of the Nehru-Gandhi family tree.

As usual, the BJP scoffed at the details and made a story of their own.

On this, Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje said Rahul Gandhi should have shared the gotra of his father and grandfather and not that of his maternal great-grandfather.

Meanwhile, BJP spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao said the ‘caste-communal narrative’ of the Congress in the ongoing state elections showed that the opposition party was “bereft of issues and its leader Rahul Gandhi is faking his identity and making a joke of himself”.

BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra was the first person to raise a question on Congress chief’s ‘gotra’. Sambit Patra had said last month, “Rahul Gandhi wears a janeu (sacred thread). We want to ask him what kind of ‘janeu-dhari’ are you? What is your gotra?”

Mr Patra question on Rahul Gandhi ‘gotra’ was apparently a reaction to Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala saying, during a controversy over Rahul Gandhi’s visit to the famous Somnath temple in Gujarat last year, that he is a ‘janeu-dhari (sacred thread-wearing) Brahmin’.

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