Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said he stands with the persecuted and seeks to erase "hatred and fear", breaking his silence on the controversy following a reported remark on the Congress being a "party for Muslims".
The Congress has dismissed the report in an Urdu daily as a "rumour" and asserted that it was a party of 132 crore Indians.
"I stand with the last person in the line. The exploited, marginalised and the persecuted. Their religion, caste or beliefs matter little to me," Gandhi said on Twitter.
"I seek out those in pain and embrace them. I erase hatred and fear. I love all living beings. I am the Congress," he said.
The BJP and the Congress have been sparring after the Urdu daily reported that Gandhi, who met Muslim intellectuals earlier last week, had told them that the Congress was a party for Muslims.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while delivering a speech in Azamgarh over the weekend, also raised the issue, saying, "I read in the newspaper that the Congress president had said that Congress is a party of Muslims, and there has been discussion on this for the past two days."
"I am not surprised as when Manmohan Singh was PM, he had said that Muslims have the first right over natural resources,” he had said.
