The Congress party on Wednesday (10 October) launched an attack on the Defence Minister Rajnath Singh for performing the traditional Shashtra Puja after taking delivery the Rafale fighter jet

Senior party leader Mallikarjun Kharge a known atheist described the Puja as a “Tamasha” and asserted that it should have been avoided.

“There is no need to do such Tamasha (Shashtra Puja) When we bought weapons-like the Bofors gun previously purchased, no one went and brought them while showing off”, Kharge was quoted as saying.

Soon after Kharge’s statement, alert social media users dug up an old video which shows Congress leader and India’s first prime minster Jawaharlal Nehru performing a puja on the first Indian made ship - Jal Usha.

The video depicting events on 14 March 1948 shows Nehru arriving in Vizag to launch the ship built at the Scindia Shipyard.

The video shows Hindu priests performing Vedic ceremonies. Nehru then offered the customary flowers and coconut to the new ship for performing the ceremony.

Social media users also dug up a video which purportedly shows Elizabeth Antony, the wife of former defence minister A K Antony drawing a cross on INS Vikrant during its launch ceremony.

Others posted an image showing the wife of the then Army Chief performing a Shashtra Puja on India’s newly inducted Sea Harrier aircraft.

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