NEW DELHI: Attacking Congress leader Shashi Tharoor for his remark on Kumbh, Union Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Smriti Irani said it is an attack on Hindu beliefs. 

Irani even slammed Congress president Rahul Gandhi for allowing Tharoor to make such a comment she said "Shashi Tharoor's statement tantamounts to a religious slur. The question needs to be asked from Rahul Gandhi, who strategically wears a ‘Jenau’ only when there are polls, as to why he has allowed this attack on beliefs of millions of Hindus across the world.

She called the comment as ‘unfortunate’ and said "This is very unfortunate. An extremely educated and respected person like Tharoor always comes up with such kind of comments related to practices of the Hindu religion.”

This comment of Smriti Irani came when Tharoor had on Tuesday tweeted a photo of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and his Cabinet taking the holy dip in Kumbh with a caption stating the irony that Ganga needs to be clean and sins need to be washed away there too.

Tharoor's comment comes at a time when there are reports that Rahul along with his sister and newly-appointed party's General Secretary of Uttar Pradesh East Priyanka will also be visiting Kumbh. It is likely that she will take charge of the post after taking the holy dip in river Ganga. Shashi Tharoor wrote, “Ganga bhi swachh rakhni hain, aur paap bhi yahi dhone hain. Iss Sangam mein sab nange hain. Jai Ganga Maiya ki!"