Controversial Catholic priest George Ponnaiah appeared to mock Hindu deities in his meeting with former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi in the Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu on Friday.
Rahul Gandhi is currently undertaking a 3,570 km long "Bharat Jodo Yatra" ("Unite India Journey") to draw attention to the rising price of essential commodities and rising unemployment under PM Narendra Modi's government.
The campaign kicked off at India's southernmost point, Kanyakumari on Wednesday and will end in Srinagar in Kashmir. The march will cover 12 Indian states and union territories in 150 days.
However, Congress' campaign caused a massive controversy during the week after a video of Gandhi's interaction with the Catholic priest went viral on social media.
In the video, Rahul Gandhi asked the Tamil Nadu pastor, "Jesus Christ is a form of God? Is that right?" to which Ponniah responded, "He is the real God."
"God reveals him(self) as a man, a real person...not like Shakti...so we see a human person," he added.
Shakti, also known as Parvati, Durga, or Kali, is the wife of the Hindu God of destruction, Lord Shiva, and is one of the most important goddesses in the religion.
As the video of Gandhi's meeting with the Catholic priest circulated on Twitter, BJP slammed the Congress leader.
"George Ponnaiah who met Rahul Gandhi says Jesus is the only God unlike Shakti (& other Hindu gods)," BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said on the microblogging platform.
Poonawala also recalled how Ponnaiah was earlier arrested for a "bigoted remark" when he said, "I wear shoes because impurities of Bharat Mata (Mother India) should not contaminate us."