PM Modi hits back at Rahul Gandhi, says Congress hurls 'love veiled abuses'

Responding to Congress president Rahul Gandhi's charge of "hatred" being used by Prime Minister Narendra in poll campaigns, the latter on Sunday alleged that the Congress leaders hurl "love-veiled abuses" at him every day.

"They (Congress leaders) hurl abuses at me every day. They hurl all types of abuses at me. They bring dictionaries of love from all over the world and hurl abuses at me after putting a veil of love on them," Modi said at a rally here.

Earlier in the day, Gandhi had said that PM Modi used "hatred" while Congress used "love" in poll campaigns. "Narendra Modi used hatred, while we used love. Love will win," Gandhi said after casting his vote in New Delhi.

The Prime Minister asserted that the people of the country are voting for him as his government carried out anti-terrorism operations during its tenure, bringing respite to people from terror.

He said, "Terrorists, who used to terrorise people, are in fear. The country's courage increases as they fear. People are voting for me because terrorists are in fear."

Modi sought credit of an anti-terrorism operation in Kashmir conducted in the morning.

"I came to know in the morning that some terrorists were killed in Kashmir. This is a problem for some people. They question as to why Modi killed terrorists on polling day? Should jawans go to the Election Commission to get permission for shooting armed terrorists?" he asked.

Earlier in the morning, two terrorists were gunned down during an encounter with security forces in Shopian district in Jammu and Kashmir.

Highlighting his government's policy of tackling terrorism with a heavy hand, he said that security forces have been eliminating terrorists in Kashmir regularly since NDA came to power in 2014.

"Since we came to power, cleanliness programme is conducted every two to three days in Kashmir. This cleanliness mission is my job," said the PM.

Attacking the Opposition alliance in Uttar Pradesh, he dared Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati to withdraw support from the Rajasthan government for allegedly trying to cover up a rape case in Alwar.

"Rajasthan is an example of how 'mahamilavatis' (a reference to SP-BSP-RLD alliance) work. A Dalit girl was gang-raped there. BSP-backed Congress government in Rajasthan is trying to sweep the incident under the carpet. Bahen ji (Mayawati), why have you not withdrawn your support to the Congress government in Rajasthan?" he asked.

Referring to the 1995 Lucknow guest house case when Mayawati and her legislators were allegedly assaulted by Samajwadi Party supporters, he said: "Bahen ji, the country was in pain when it happened in the guest house. What is the reason that you do not feel pain? If you are concerned about women's security, you should withdraw your support from the Rajasthan government."

Alleging that Congress is not serious about women's security including in the Alwar rape case, he said: "I made the provision to hang rapists. Congress has just one answer on these issues - 'Hua to hua' (It happened, so what?). Be it corruption, inflation or 1984 riots, Congress has only one answer - 'hua to hua'."

Polling is being held today on all seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi, eight seats in Bihar, all ten seats in Haryana, eight in Madhya Pradesh, fourteen in Uttar Pradesh, eight in West Bengal and four in Jharkhand.

The seventh and last phase of national elections will take place on May 19. Counting of votes will take place on May 23.

-ANI