(Bloomberg) -- Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday called on supporters at an election rally to punish the main opposition party for coining the term "Hindu terror."
Hindus have not committed a single act of terror in thousands of years, Modi said at a farmer’s rally in the western state of Maharashtra. He was speaking after a court ruled in the long-running trial of four Hindu activists charged over their involvement in the 2007 bombing of a Pakistan-bound train service that killed 68 people. All were acquitted by the court on March 20, citing lack of evidence.
Congress leaders had abandoned constituencies of majority Hindus to fight elections from minority areas in fear of backlash, Modi said.
Modi was referring to the Indian National Congress announcement on Sunday of its plans to field president Rahul Gandhi from two constituencies -- his family’s traditional stronghold Amethi in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh and from Wayanad in Kerala, where Hindus constitute just half the population, compared to a national average of 80 percent.
India’s electoral system allows candidates to contest from more than one constituency -- in 2014 Modi contested from the western state of Gujarat and Varanasi in northern India.
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