(In the Know Your Candidate series, tfipost.com will profile interesting candidates in the run-up to the 2019 General Elections)
Yesterday, Congress party released its first list of candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The list contains the names of many senior leaders including party President Rahul Gandhi and former President Sonia Gandhi. Surprisingly, it also includes the name of the controversial Congress leader, Imran Masood, who came in limelight for a statement he made about the then BJP Prime Ministerial Candidate, Narendra Modi before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. The exact words of Imran Masood were,”boti boti kaat denge choti choti.” Masood had threatened to chop off the hands of Narendra Modi.
To quote Masood, “If Modi tries to make 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 UP is Gujarat. Only 4 per cent Muslims are there in Gujarat while there are 42 per cent Muslims in UP.”
Congress leader Imran Masood who had threatened to chop PM Modi into pieces awarded ticket for Lok Sabha as Congress released the first list of candidates.
Nafrat se nhi, Pyaar se jeetenge. Kyu @RahulGandhi?😍 pic.twitter.com/6Pz2WDtAqw
— Sir Jadeja fan (@SirJadeja) March 7, 2019
Also in 2014, Imran Masood was Congress’ Lok Sabha candidate from Saharanpur constituency. But he was jailed for his hate-speech and had lost the 2014 Lok Sabha elections to BJP’s Raghav Lakhanpal. There were four cases against Imran Masood pending trials in Saharanpur courts and one in district court in Lucknow.
It’s not the first time that Congress has rewarded this hate-monger. In the run-up to 2017 Uttar Pradesh State Assembly elections, the party had appointed him as Congress’ vice-president in Uttar Pradesh. Masood was one of the four party vice-presidents in the state. Senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid had defended his appointment by saying that person cannot be held down for the metaphors they speak.
Imran Masood comes from a family of equal dubious credentials. He is the nephew of former minister Rasheed Masood, who was the first MP to be disqualified in September 2013 from the Parliament, when found guilty in a case of corruption in medical colleges across the country. Rasheed Masood was held guilty of fraudulently nominating undeserving candidates to MBBS seats. The disqualification took place soon after the Supreme Court gave a strong verdict stating that any lawmaker against whom cases are pending cannot be a Member of Parliament. Rasheed was sentenced to four years of imprisonment as well.
Ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress’ decision to field Imran Masood from Saharanpur constituency bolsters the notion that the Grand Old Party has the policy of rewarding anyone who makes statements against PM Modi and India.