Imran Masood is contesting from Saharanpur in western Uttar Pradesh
Congress candidate Imran Masoodi, who created fresh controversy yesterday with his 'hate speech' remarks against BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi has been arrested.
A video of a Congress candidate in Uttar Pradesh threatening to "chop
Narendra Modi to pieces" has gone viral on the web and ignited a new political controversy ahead of next month's national election. (
Read)
Mr Masood, 40, who is contesting from Saharanpur in western Uttar Pradesh, faces criminal charges for his hate speech against the BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate. He now says, he never threatened to kill Mr Modi. "I meant that I would teach him a lesson," he told NDTV.
An FIR or First Information Report accuses him of violating the election code of conduct, but it is not clear when and where the comments were made.
The police say they received the video CD on Thursday.
Mr Masood claims he spoke those words eight months ago, when he was with the Samajwadi Party.
The scandal has erupted ahead of
Rahul Gandhi's rally in Saharanpur on Saturday. The Congress condemned its candidate's remarks but has not cancelled the rally. Senior party leader Digvijaya Singh, however, said the comments should not go unpunished.
In the CD, Mr Masood says, "
I am a man of the street, ready to give my life for my people. I am neither afraid of death or of killing. He thinks this is Gujarat. There are only 4% Muslims in Gujarat. There are 42% Muslims here."
Senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley said the comments reflect a mindset that believes "abusing Modi is an expression of aggressive secularism." He also referred to Sonia Gandhi's "Maut Ka Saudagar (merchant of death)" barb in 2007 against Mr Modi.
Mr Modi, 64, is contesting his first parliamentary election from Varanasi, 800 km away in India's largest and most politically vital state. In his speech, Mr Masood warns the BJP leader against "turning Uttar Pradesh into Gujarat."
Mr Modi's critics accuse him of not doing enough to stop the 2002 riots that tore through his Gujarat. A Supreme Court inquiry has said there is no evidence of Mr Modi's alleged collusion in the violence; a local court upheld that report recently.