Indian politician detained over death threat
PUBLISHED : Monday, 31 March, 2014, 5:31am
UPDATED : Monday, 31 March, 2014, 7:05am
Agence France-Presse in New Delhi
Narendra Modi
Police arrested a politician from India's ruling Congress party over a threat to chop fiery Hindu nationalist Narendra Modi "into little pieces" if he stirred religious violence in Uttar Pradesh, the nation's most populous state.
A video handed to police allegedly shows Imran Masood, fielded by Congress as a candidate in national elections in Uttar Pradesh, making the threat against the hardline leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party at a rally.
Police said they had arrested Masood under hate-speech laws, and that he had been remanded in custody for 14 days, during which police will investigate whether there are sufficient grounds to file formal charges.
Masood allegedly made the threat in relation to deadly riots that erupted in the state of Gujarat in 2002, when Modi had just become its chief minister.
Modi "thinks this is Gujarat, where the Muslim population is 4 per cent. There are 42 per cent Muslims here", he is seen to say.
If Modi were to make Masood's constituency into Gujarat, "he will be chopped into tiny pieces", Masood adds. He is Congress' candidate in the Uttar Pradesh city of Saharanpur, which has a large Muslim population.
Before his arrest Masood told local media he "did not threaten to kill Modi" and he only said the hardline Hindu leader "would have be taught a lesson" in the event he stirred up any "Gujarat-like" riots in his constituency.
Rhetoric on India's rough-and-tumble election trail is often vitriolic, though actual death threats are rare.
During the 2009 election campaign, Varun Gandhi was accused of inciting hatred over alleged anti-Muslim statements but was cleared by a court.
