New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) launched a stinging attack on the Congress on Wednesday, alleging that while medieval invaders Mahmud of Ghazni and Alauddin Khilji plundered the Somnath temple in the past, India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, "harboured the greatest hatred" toward the deity in independent India.

In a series of social media posts, BJP national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi claimed that Nehru opposed the reconstruction of the Gujarat temple due to "blind appeasement politics" and went so far as to glorify Mughal invaders. Trivedi, a Rajya Sabha MP, accused Nehru of prioritising "external appeasement over internal self-confidence" by downplaying Hindu civilizational symbols to satisfy Pakistan.

"Somnath was plundered by Mahmud Ghazni and Khilji in the past, but in independent India, Pandit Nehru harboured the greatest hatred towards Lord Somnath," Trivedi stated.

The BJP spokesperson cited an April 21, 1951, letter from Nehru to then-Pakistani Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan as the most "striking example" of this stance. In the correspondence, Nehru purportedly addressed Khan as "Dear Nawabzada" and dismissed the historical narrative surrounding the Somnath temple gates as "completely false."

"Pandit Nehru, in a way, surrendered to Liaquat Ali Khan, writing that nothing like the reconstruction of the Somnath temple was taking place," Trivedi alleged.

Trivedi questioned Nehru’s motives for reassuring the Pakistani leader, asking, "What exactly was Pandit Nehru's fear from Liaquat Ali Khan that he felt the need to write him a letter about the Somnath temple? What else was this if not blind appeasement politics and the glorification of Mughal invaders?"

The remarks come amid the "Somnath Swabhiman Parv," a series of events marking 1,000 years since the temple's destruction in 1026. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit the temple on January 11.

With inputs from PTI