Reporters should have lifted burkhas to check: Parrikar

The media should have lifted "burkhas" to see if Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) men masqueraded as Muslim women at BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi's rally, Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar said Wednesday.

Parrikar was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a briefing after a meeting of the state cabinet, at the secretariat.

Asked by the media to comment on an accusation made by the Congress that RSS men were masquerading as burkha-clad (veiled) Muslim women to make up minority numbers at Modi's rally in the city Sunday, Parrikar said: "You should have lifted the burkhas yourself".

"I did not see many (burkhas). Maybe 200 or 300. Maybe the rally was so huge the Congress got a little rattled," Parrikar said.

Parrikar asked who would even notice 300 people in a rally so large that about 1.5 lakh to 2 lakh people had attended.

The Congress Wednesday had charged that RSS sympathisers had been strategically placed within the rally to make it appear as if members of the minority community in Goa had warmed up to Modi as prime ministerial candidate.