Saharanpur/Lucknow: When Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi launched an attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Saharanpur district in Uttar Pradesh on Monday, next to him stood a man who was jailed last year for a hate speech against Mr Modi during the campaign for the national election.
At the padayatra Rahul said, “I am not communal number 1. I have apologised for my mistake. But those in the BJP who have made hate speeches have not apologised.” Eyebrows were raised at Imran Masood’s presence though.
Earlier, the Congress party had distanced itself from Mr Masood’s comments after his arrest in April last year while Rahul Gandhi had in a speech that he disapproves of the “local candidate using harsh towards about the opposition. This is not the Congress way.”
Mr Masood, who was later released on bail, was the Congress candidate from Saharanpur for the national election. Talking about UP, he asked CM Akhilesh Yadav to come forward and keep up to his promise of bringing a change by resolving the farmers’ issue of pending payments of sugarcane.
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