Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday suggested that the Indian men’s cricket team lost its ICC World Cup final match against Australia due to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s presence. Addressing a poll rally in Jalore district of poll-bound Rajasthan, the Congress leader said that India was playing well till “panauti” arrived in the stadium.

However, Rahul did not specifically name the Prime Minister while making this statement.

Rahul Gandhi was speaking on the issue of caste census and OBC rights. “Backward classes constitute the biggest chunk of the population in the country. In all his speeches, PM Narendra Modi would come and say he is an OBC,” Rahul said. Before he could continue, somebody from the crowd was heard saying “panauti”.

“Panauti, Panauti… Acha bhala wahan pe hamare ladke World Cup jeet jaate… Wahan pe panauti harwa diya (Our team would have won the World Cup. We lost due to the bad omen),” Rahul said amid loud cheers from the crowd.

The PM’s presence at the World Cup final venue in Ahmedabad and his visit to Team India’s dressing room following its defeat has drawn criticism from the Opposition. While the Congress was quick to point out how India had won no major ICC tournament ever since the Modi government came to power in 2014, Trinamool Congress MP Kirti Azad said that the dressing room was a “sanctum sanctorum” and the PM should not have met the team there.

“The ICC does not allow anybody to enter these rooms apart from the players and the support staff. The Prime Minister should have met the team outside the dressing room in the private visitors’ area. I say this as a sportsman and not a politician. Would Narendra Modi allow his supporters to come and console or congratulate him in his bedroom, dressing room or the toilet?” Azad asked.

The Shiv Sena (UBT) has also taken exception to the PM’s meeting with players with its leader Priyanka Chaturvedi questioning the need to carry cameras inside. “The Indian cricketers clearly look uncomfortable, having to deal with the loss and then have cameras thrust on them inside the dressing room for PM’s team to record ‘pep talk’. Yeah, you can troll this tweet as much as you’ll want,” she tweeted.