Religion, caste or beliefs matter little to me: Rahul Gandhi amid row over Muslim remark

New Delhi, July 17: Amid the controversy over his alleged remark that the Congress is a 'party of Muslims', party chief Rahul Gandhi said that the religion, caste or beliefs of people matter little to the party.

Taking to twitter, the Congress chief wrote: "I stand with the last person in the line. The exploited, marginalised and the persecuted. Their religion, caste or beliefs matter little to me. I seek out those in pain and embrace them. I erase hatred and fear. I love all living beings. I am the Congress."

Rahul's statement comes a day after a controversy broke on remarks that Congress is a party of 'Muslims'.

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.

The Congress has dismissed the report in an Urdu daily as a "rumour" and asserted that it was a party of 132 crore Indians.

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.

Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday demanded from Rahul Gandhi that he would have to answer questions of the people of the country on this issue.

BJP on Sunday questioned Rahul Gandhi's "silence" over his reported remarks that the Congress is "a Muslim party. The BJP also hit back at the Congress for alleging that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a "sick" mentality after he accused the opposition party of standing only for Muslim men.