Congress candidate from Saharanpur Imran Masood, who threatened to chop the Bharatiya Janata Party prime ministerial nominee Narendra Modi into pieces, was arrested early on Saturday morning.
He was later produced before a Saharanpur court, which remanded him in judicial custody for 14 days.
Mr. Masood was caught on video saying, “If Modi tries to turn 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 U.P. is Gujarat.”
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi disapproved of his intemperate remarks.
At a rally in Saharanpur on Saturday, Mr. Gandhi, without naming Mr. Masood, said the Congress did not believe in the politics of anger.
“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,” Mr. Gandhi said.
Mr. Masood’s wife, Saima, showed up at the rally and blamed the BJP for framing her husband in a political conspiracy.
Defiant
Mr. Masood apologised for the hate speech on Friday but he turned defiant on Saturday, telling reporters that he had done no wrong and would not apologise either to the BJP or to Mr. Modi.
Meanwhile, BJP leaders Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Nirmala Sitharaman and Pinky Anand lodged a complaint against Mr. Masood with the Election Commission.
Local Congressmen said Mr. Masood had delivered the speech when he was with the Samajwadi Party.
