BJP MPs think I will hug them too, take 2 steps back when I near them: Rahul Gandhi

NEW DELHI: Congress chief Rahul Gandhi has said he and his party are willing to bitterly fight Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his BJP, but that they will not hate them. His also addressed the rising political polarisation, saying Indian politics is confrontation and winner-takes-all.

Rahul's comments came at an event in New Delhi to launch the most recent book by journalist Karan Thapar. The event saw the participation of a number of key Congress faces such as former PM Manmohan Singh, Shashi Tharoor, Sheila Dikshit and Digvijaya Singh, apart from former Vice President Hamid Ansari and others.

"The atmosphere in politics, we tend to see the world as either them and us and this is not my nature. But this is the design of our politics, its confrontational and winner takes all," said Rahul in his speech at the book launch. 

"You can fight someone with all your might but hate is a choice that you make. We, the Congress, will take on the BJP and they will fight us, but we won't hate them. I don't know if we can expect the same from them," he said, taunting the BJP and its leadership.

"Now whenever I come across BJP MPs, they take two steps back thinking I'll hug them. One thing that religion teaches us is you can't get imprisoned by hatred. We'll take on PM and the BJP, but we don't need to hate them," he said.

Rahul Gandhi had hogged the headlines for his speech during the debate on the recent failed no-confidence motion moved by the opposition in the Lok Sabha. Attention had been particularly focussed on Rahul for waling over to the treasury benches to give PM Modi a hug.