Referring to the protests that took place in the Northeast due to the proposed Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government has set the entire Northeast on fire but the Congress party will conquer it with love.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, which was passed in the Lok Sabha on January 8, seeks to provide citizenship to non-Muslims from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan who came to India before December 31, 2014.

On February 13, the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016 lapsed in the Rajya Sabha, amid ongoing protests by the members of the House.

Drawing a comparison between BJP and Congress ideology, Rahul said: "They spread hatred, abuse me and my family, and the Congress president goes and hugs them in Parliament."

He asserted that the 'Seva Dal' is the backbone, first line of defence of the Congress.

Rahul said that the Congress wants to unite India but the BJP wants to divide it.

"Not Youth Congress, not Congress president, not any other unit of the Congress party, but Seva Dal is the backbone of Congress, it is like the first line of defence of the party. We need to start a new beginning. Congress Seva Dal needs to be strengthened," he said.

Remembering his hug to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in House in July last year during the No-Confidence Motion, Rahul said: "We should understand that we cannot fight BJP's hate with hate. I hugged Mr. Modi to remove that hatred."

Yesterday in his last speech in Parliament ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Modi took a dig at Gandhi while referring, in a veiled manner, to the hug the Congress President gave to him in House in July last year.

Gandhi, after making a speech, had walked across the House and hugged a seated Modi, to his utter surprise. "For the first time, I understood the difference between hugging and piling on," Modi quipped.

The Congress chief claimed that the sole intention of the BJP is to benefit the richest people in India.

"We believe in justice for all. It does not make a difference to BJP if farmers commit suicide or people have to stand in queues during demonetisation. Their sole intention is to benefit India's richest," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)