All women should be allowed inside Sabarimala temple: Rahul Gandhi

Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said all women should be allowed to enter the Sabarimala temple, noting that his view on the issue was different from that of his party's Kerala unit.

The Supreme Court last month lifted the ban on entry of women of menstrual age into the shrine of Lord Ayyappa.

"It is a very emotional issue and my personal thinking on the matter is different from my partys Kerala unit," Gandhi told a select group of journalists here in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh.

"My personal view point on the issue of Sabarimala temple is that men and women are equal. All women should get permission to enter into the temple. However, my partys Kerala units view is that it is a very emotional issue for both men and women, he said.

"Therefore, my personal opinion and my partys Kerala units thinking is different on the matter. My party represents the feeling of the Keralas natives on the issue, the Congress chief said.

Referring to Rafale fighter deal, he claimed that the day a probe into it begins, Prime Minister Narendra Modi "will have to go to jail."

He alleged that set procedures were violated to "benefit" industrialist Anil Ambani in the deal.

The Congress President further claimed that "When the documents related to the deal come out, the names of Modi and Ambani will appear in big letters on either side of the papers."

Ambani has already rejected the allegations.

Referring to Pakistan, Gandhi said creating hurdles in the way of India is in the DNA of that country.

"But Pakistan got the opportunity to push anti-India terror activities because of alleged wrong policies of the BJP and it further led to the martyrdom of Indian soldiers," Gandhi said.

Answering a question, he said, I can admit before nearly 200 journalists that we were not able to meet the expectations of people in 2014 Lok Sabha elections. We have committed mistakes.

But Modi government performed much worse than us on the issues of corruption, employment and farmers problems after coming to power, the Congress chief said.