Imran Masood, the Congress party’s candidate from Saharanpur who was arrested on Saturday for threatening “to chop Narendra Modi” into pieces, was today granted bail by a local court.
Imran’s remarks had created a furore, and were frowned upon by his party vice-president Rahul Gandhi. He used an election rally in Saharanpur on the day Imran was arrested to express his disapproval of the hate-speech.
“A few months ago, our candidate used harsh words for the opposition candidate. That’s not our tradition. No matter what the Opposition says about us, we always respond respectfully, said Mr. Gandhi.
“We want to engage in politics of love. We’ll defeat anger with love,” he added.
Imran is the nephew of former union minister Rashid Masood, who had earned infamy last year after becoming the first parliamentarian to lose his membership of the Rajya Sabha because of his conviction in a corruption case.
A criminal case was registered against Imran on March 28 after a video of him threatening to “chop Modi to pieces” went viral on the Web. Clarifying his comments, he told, “I meant that I would teach him a lesson.”
An FIR or First Information Report accused Imran, 40, of violating the election code of conduct, but it was not clear when and where the comments were made.
