Congress stands with the marginalised, says Rahul on 'Muslim Party' row

NEW DELHI: Rahul Gandhi has said the Congress stands with the marginalised irrespective of their religion, in a clear response to the bad press over his reported remark that it is a "party for Muslims".

"I stand with the last person in the line. The exploited, marginalised and the persecuted. Their religion, caste or beliefs matter little to me," the Congress president posted to Twitter on Tuesday.

This comes after days of silence during which rival BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, took shots at him over a news report that quoted him as making the "party for Muslims " remark at a meeting of intellectuals from that community.


Gandhi also said in his tweet - in line with his repeated allegations that his political rivals ran a campaign of hate - that he "erased fear and hatred".

A news report in Urdu Daily Inquilab had said that Congress' minority unit chief Nadeem Javed confirmed that Gandhi did say that "Congress is a Muslim party" during the meeting. Javed later told a new channel that the editor misunderstood him.

The Congress chief so far has been silent on challenges by political rivals to either confirm or deny having made the remark at the meeting with Muslim intellectuals last week.

But other party leaders have dismissed the report in the Urdu daily as a "rumour" and asserted that it was a party of 132 crore Indians.