Farooq Abdullah was addressing an election rally at Khanyar in Kashmir
Union minister and National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah on Sunday sparked off a controversy by saying that those voting for the BJP's prime ministerial candidate
Narendra Modi should jump into the sea. (Also Read:
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He later claimed that he was only reacting to BJP leader Giriraj Singh's comment - that those who don't support Mr Modi should go to Pakistan.
Mr Singh had stirred up a controversy during an election meeting in Jharkhand's Deoghar district on April 19, when he had said that those who oppose Narendra Modi "will only have place in Pakistan". (Also Read:
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The Election Commission had subsequently banned Mr Singh from campaigning in Bihar and Jharkhand.
Clarifying his comments, Mr Abdullah later told NDTV, "They said that those who don't vote for Modi should go to Pakistan. That is not what it should be. Then we should tell those people who vote for Modi to jump into the sea. I just quoted from one extreme to the other extreme. Those people want to take India to extremism. We think India is unity in diversity and that unity and diversity has to be protected".