Worried about politics of hate sweeping country: PM

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Thursday said he and "all sane persons should be worried about the politics of hate sweeping the country" and the government would take all precautions if there is any danger to the life of Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi.

To a query on what he thought about Rahul Gandhi saying in a speech that his grandmother Indira Gandhi and his father Rajiv Gandhi, both prime ministers, had been killed and he could be killed too, the prime minister said in a reference to the BJP: "Well, I and all sane persons should be worried about the politics of hate which is now sweeping the country."

"As regards the threat to the life of Rahul Gandhi, the government will take all possible precautions that this threat does not materialise," he said answering questions on way back from his visit to Russia and China.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is aggressively campaigning for the 2014 elections and the assembly polls to five states later this year with Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as its prime ministerial candidate.

Modi was the chief minister during the 2002 Gujarat sectarian riots that saw over 1,000 people killed, mostly Muslims, in reaction to the Godhra train burning. His government is accused of not having done enough to stop the rioting, a black mark that still sticks.