The Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday stepped up its attack on Congress over the party’s response to the Supreme Court’s adjournment of the final hearing in the Babri Masjid–Ram Janmabhoomi case to February 8.

Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao called Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi a devotee of Muhgal emperor Babar and a relative of Alauddin Khalji.

“Gandhi has teamed up with Owaisis and Jilanis to oppose [the] Ram temple in Ayodhya,” Rao wrote. “Rahul Gandhi is certainly a “Babar Bhakt” and a “Kin of Khilji”. Babar destroyed Ram temple and Khilji plundered Somnath.”

Rao added: “Nehru dynasty sided with both Islamic invaders. Travesty and perversity of dynasty!”

The statement was in response to senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who had appeared for the Sunni Waqf board, asking the court to push the hearing to July 2019 after the General Elections. Sibal, a senior Congress leader, had said there are “serious repercussions” outside court every time the matter is heard.

Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah had also attacked Congress Vice President on the matter on Tuesday, and said that the Congress has “double standards”. While on the one hand, Gandhi is on “election tour of temples” in Gujarat, on the other hand, his party wants the hearing to be deferred, he had said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said he did not object to Congress leader Kapil Sibal representing the “Muslim community” in the Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi case, but criticised him for asking the Supreme Court to defer the hearing till July 2019.

“How is the case connected to the Lok Sabha elections?” Modi asked, and accused the Congress of being “least bothered about the nation” and linking the Ayodhya dispute with elections.