M A I N   N E W S

Masood held for hate speech, Rahul slams his remarks
Says comments on Modi not part of Cong culture
Shahira Naim
Tribune News Service

Lucknow, March 29
In a major embarrassment to the Congress, its Saharanpur candidate Imraan Masood was on Saturday sent to 14-day judicial custody after being arrested for his reported hate speech in which he allegedly threatened to "chop" BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi “into pieces”.

The 40-year-old, arrested around 3 am this morning from his residence, was jailed hours before Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi was to address a rally in his support at Saharanpur 13 days ahead of polling. Saharanpur SSP Manoj Kumar led the police contingent that arrested the ex-MLA. He would spend the remaining days of campaigning behind bars as his bail application has also been rejected.

Despite news of Rahul Gandhi cancelling his Saharanpur rally, he announced at Ghaziabad that he was headed for Saharanpur. He shared the dais with Masood's wife Shaima, a significant development as Congress may have to change its candidate from the seat following the police case.

At both rallies, Rahul distanced himself from Masood’s speech saying it was not part of “Congress culture” and had been delivered by Masood six months ago before he joined the Congress. Rahul spoke at length about the incident, taking it head-on. He attempted to raise the political discourse to a sublime level by urging his party to counter the politics of anger and hatred with love and harmony.

Referring to Masood’s harsh words against Modi, Rahul said, “Let the Opposition abuse us, ridicule us and take out all the anger inside them. We, as Congressmen, would defeat anger with love. Darkness can be overcome not by more darkness but with light.”

Following a complaint by the state BJP unit, Chief Electoral Officer Umesh Sinha had yesterday asked the Saharanpur District Magistrate to send a report on the Masood speech. An FIR was registered at the Deoband police station under IPC section 295 (A) (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings), 504 (intentional insult to provoke breach of peace), 506 (criminal intimidation) coupled with Section 125.

Sections of the Representation of People Act which deal with promoting enmity between classes in connection with election have also been slapped against Masood. He had yesterday attempted to draw political mileage out of the controversy yesterday by admitting the controversial tape was six months old. He also regretted using words that he should not have used, but said he would neither apologise to Modi nor to the BJP. He claimed to have fallen victim to a BJP conspiracy.