NEW DELHI, March 30 – Indian police have arrested a leader of the ruling Congress party for threatening to “chop Narendra Modi into pieces”, China’s Xinhua news agency reported, citing a senior police official as saying Saturday.
“The Congress leader, Imran Masood, who is a candidate for the upcoming general elections from the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur town, was arrested late Friday night after he was caught on camera threatening to chop the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial candidate Modi into pieces,” he said, on condition of anonymity.
Masood has been booked under various sections of the Indian law, including for making hate speech, the official said.
Local TV channels have been airing since Thursday the footage of the Congress leader making the hate speech while addressing his supporters.
“If Modi tries to make Uttar Pradesh into Gujarat, then we will chop him into tiny pieces. I am not scared of getting killed or attacking someone. I will fight against Modi. He thinks Uttar Pradesh is Gujarat. Only four percent Muslims are there in Gujarat while there are 42 percent Muslims in Uttar Pradesh,” he had said.
However, he later apologised for his remarks, saying, “I should have been more cautious with my words”.
Modi is accused of keeping mum during the 2002 communal riots in the western state of Gujarat, in which over 1,000 people, mostly minority Muslims, were killed. Modi, the three-time Chief Minister of the state, denies any wrongdoing and has not yet been convicted by a court of law.
— BERNAMA
