Bihar’s BJP president Nityanand Rai on Monday told a gathering of Vaishya and Kanu (OBC) community members to chop off or break the fingers and hands raised against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, The Indian Express reported. Rai is a Lok Sabha MP from Ujiyarpur.

Lauding Modi for overcoming odds to become PM, Rai said: “When Narendra Modi’s mother would serve food to him, neither she would see her son in that plate nor the son would see the mother. From such circumstances, he has grown to be PM – the son of a poor, each individual should be honoured by this.”

“Any finger or hand raised against the PM, we should get together to either break it or, if need be, chop it off,” he added, while the state’s deputy CM and his party colleague Sushil Modi shared the stage with him.

Rai, a Yadav leader, clarified to the newspaper: “I used the expression of breaking fingers and chopping hands as proverbs to convey that we would strongly deal with those who rise against the country’s pride and security. I meant country after I had finished talking about the PM’s inspiring journey.” He insisted that his statement was not meant for individuals or opposition parties.