JD-U criticizes Modi over 'puppy remark', compares him with Hitler

Janata Dal (United) leader Ali Anwar on Sunday lashed out at Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi over his 'puppy' analogy over the 2002 Gujarat riots, and compared him with Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler.

Terming Modi's ideology as 'scary', Anwar said this is the kind of ideology that killed Mahatma Gandhi.

"Nathuram Godse, who assassinated Mahatma Gandhi, was also a Hindu. Everyone is aware that he was attached to RSS and had similar ideologies. There may be frauds in any religion. What Modi has said is not just wrong but also scary," Anwar said.

Modi has come under sharp criticism from the ruling Congress Party at the Centre over his latest interview to Reuters news agency in which he said that he had done 'absolutely right thing' in 2002 when the state was hit by riots and that an SIT set up by the Supreme Court had given him a 'thoroughly clean chit'.

The Gujarat Chief Minister, who was very recently appointed the BJP's campaign committee chief for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, in an exclusive interview to Reuters news agency at his official residence in Gandhinagar, said that he had been given a clean chit by the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team.

What caused the controversy was his following remark: "Another thing... someone else is driving a car and we're sitting behind, even then if a puppy comes under the wheel, will be painful or not? Of course, it is. If I"m a chief minister or not, I'm a human being. If something bad happens anywhere, it is natural to be sad," he said, while defending himself.

Modi described himself as a Hindu nationalist because he was a born Hindu.

"I am nationalist. I am patriotic. Nothing is wrong. I'm a born Hindu. Nothing is wrong. So, I am a Hindu nationalist so yes, you can say I am a Hindu nationalist because I am a born Hindu. I am patriotic, so nothing is wrong in it. As far as progressive, development oriented, workaholic, whatever they say, this is what they see. So there"s no contradiction between the two," he said.