Modi on fire after 'Islamophobic' remarks

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been accused of Islamophobic remarks by the opposition after claiming that his rivals would give out people’s wealth to “infiltrators” if they took over power.

The opposition Congress wanted to distribute wealth to "those who have many children", Modi told a rally, according to BBC.

His comments were broadly seen as referring to India's Muslim minority.

On the other hand, the Congress party has rejected the claim, which came days after the general election started.

PM Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government has often been accused of discriminating against India's minority communities, especially Muslims.

This has been confirmed by the rights groups, who say that they face discrimination and attacks, and have been forced to live as "second-class" citizens under Modi's rule. However, the BJP denies these allegations.

On 19 April, the first of seven phases in the general election was held. Notably, the results will be declared on 4 June.

During an election rally in Rajasthan state, Modi made the comments on Sunday, when he was talking about the Congress party's manifesto.

He alleged that the manifesto said it would "take stock" of the gold that women traditionally save in India and redistribute it.

"And their earlier [Congress] government had said that Muslims have the first right over the nation's wealth," PM Modi alleged.

"This means that they [the Congress] will collect people's wealth and distribute it to whom?" he asked the audience.

"To those who have more children. To the infiltrators. Should your hard-earned money be given to infiltrators?" he added referring to a 2006 speech by Manmohan Singh.