Hindus and Muslims, fight poverty, not each other: Modi says without mentioning Dadri

Modi, accused of keeping silence over the Dadri incident, in which a man was beaten to death in Uttar Pradesh following rumours of cow slaughter and beef eating, used his last election meeting for Bihar polls in to send the message.

"In a democracy everyone has the right to speak their mind. But Hindus must decide whether they want to fight Muslims or poverty. Muslims must decide whether they want to fight Hindus or poverty," he said.

Modi, however, did not mention about Dadri or the incident that took place there, thus avoiding an open condemnation of the incident which might have antagonized the core supporters of his party, having a strong Hindutva feeling.

The PM also invoked President Pranab Mukherjee's statement made on Wednesday warning against letting India's core values of diversity and tolerance waste away. "The rashtrapati has shown us the way. There is no bigger inspiration than him let's follow his path," he said.

In an obvious bid to dilute the controversial statements by some of the BJP leaders in the wake of the Dadri lynching, Modi said :"I want to tell the people that because of politics and for petty gains, people are making irresponsible statements. I appeal to citizens not to take them seriously. Even if Narendra Modi himself says something like that, don't listen to him."

Referring to the blasts at his Patna rally in in 2013, Modi said : "There's a conspiracy that Modi never shows his face again. Games of death are being played."

Earlier in the day, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar tweeted to criticise Modi for maintaining a "deafening silence" over the Dadri incident that took place on September 28. The opposition parties as well as a host of prominent citizens have also come down heavily on the PM for not uttering a word on the ghastly incident that has triggered a nationwide outcry.