New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who is on a 150-day-long Bharat Jodo Yatra, on Friday met a controversial catholic priest George Ponnaiah in the Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu.

A video clip of Rahul Gandhi’s interaction with the Tamil Nadu pastor went viral, in which Rahul Gandhi can be heard asking, “Jesus Christ is a form of God? Is that right?” to which the Tamil Nadu priest George Ponniah replied, “He is the real God.” Ponniah goes on to say, “God reveals him(self) as a man, a real person…not like Shakti…so we see a human person.”

Ponniah has a history of delivering provocative statements that have landed him in trouble in the past. He was arrested last year in July in Kallikudi, Madurai for allegedly making a ‘hate speech’ against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, DMK Minister and others.

Rahul Gandhi met him at the Muttidichan Parai Church, Puliyoorkurichy where he camped for a morning break on Friday.

BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla attacked Rahul Gandhi, “George Ponnaiah who met Rahul Gandhi says Jesus is the only God unlike Shakti (& other Hindu Gods)”

He further said, “Earlier he was arrested for his bigotry remark, when he said, “I wear shoes because impurities of Bharat Mata should not contaminate us.”

Poonawalla took a swipe at Rahul Gandhi’s meeting with the priest, saying, “Bharat Jodo with Bharat Todo icons?”

Pastor George Ponnaiah was arrested last year in July for his hate speech targeting the Hindu community. He made contentious remarks in a meeting on July 18, 2021, at Arumanai in Tamil Nadu.