Rahul goes ahead with Saharanpur rally, chides Masood comments

Sharing the dais with arrested Congress candidate Imran Masood's wife, Rahul Gandhi on Saturday disapproved of his controversial comments threatening to chop BJP's prime ministerial candidate Modi "into pieces" saying they militated against the party's ideology.

Addressing a rally in Saharanpur, Gandhi said Masood should not have used those strong words (kathor shabd) as Congress does not have to do the politics of anger like the opposition.

Soon after Masood's arrest, it was said by party leaders that Gandhi will not be addressing the scheduled rally at Saharanpur. However, after his Ghaziabad public meeting, Gandhi went ahead with his rally in Saharanpur where he met Masood's wife Shaima.

Addressing the meeting, Shaima said her husband is being "trapped" on the basis of "false allegations".

Describing herself as their daughter and daughter in-law, Shaima said she came there with her children to seek their "blessings".

Her sharing the dais with Gandhi is significant as Congress may have to change its candidate from the seat in wake of the police case against Masood.

Earlier speaking in Ghaziabad, Gandhi said Imran's remarks were against the party's ideology.

"He should not have used such words against the opposition leader. I want to tell the whole country that words he used against one of opposition leaders is not our ideology," Rahul said there.

"Congress Party is of Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians. We do not get angry, we do our work peacefully and with love," Rahul said.

At Saharanpur, the Congress Vice President said the politics of Congress is of taking everybody along as the nation can be built only then.

"You need to understand the people in opposition. They do the politics of anger. We do not have to do the politics of anger but of love and respect. We have to fight and defeat the politics of anger. You will see that we are going to defeat the politics of anger with love."

A video footage of the election rally in Saharanpur, showing Masood attacking the BJP's prime ministerial candidate, had gone viral on the web.

The Congress candidate was seen in the video as saying that "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 UP is Gujarat. Only 4 per cent Muslims are there in Gujarat while there are 42 per cent Muslims in UP."

Image: Congress leader Imran Masood