Following revelations that it took over three hours for the police to take a victim of mob lynching to hospital in Rajasthan’s Alwar, Congress president Rahul Gandhi demanded to know why such a delay occured, when the hospital was just a few kilometers away.

In his tweet, Gandhi also targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying, “This is Modi’s brutal ‘New India’ where humanity is replaced with hatred and people are crushed and left to die”.

“Policemen in Alwar took 3 hrs to get a dying Rakbar Khan, the victim of a lynch mob, to a hospital just 6 KM away. Why? They took a tea-break enroute. This is Modi’s brutal “New India” where humanity is replaced with hatred and people are crushed and left to die,” he wrote.

In a shocking incident that took the country by storm, Rakbar Khan and his accomplice, who were transporting cows from their native Kolganv village in Haryana to Ramgarh, were severely beaten up by the villagers of Ramgarh on Friday night on suspicion of smuggling cows.

While Khan was severely injured in the attack, according to reports, local eyewitnesses have claimed that it was police negligence that caused his death.

After the police were informed about the alleged attack, reports said they reached the spot, took Khan into their vehicle, washed him, stopped somewhere to have tea and then changed his clothes at the police station, before taking him to a health centre in Ramgarh, where he was declared dead on arrival.

READ | Before taking Alwar lynching victim to hospital, cops ‘thrashed him, stopped for tea’

However, the Rajasthan Police have denied all the charges while stating that any such negligence would be dealt with strictly.

Bharatiya Janata Party leader Piyush Goyal was quick to retort back calling Rahul Gandhi a “merchant of hate”.

He also accused the Congress president of playing divisive politics for electoral gains.

“Stop jumping with joy every time a crime happens, Mr Rahul Gandhi. The state has already assured strict & prompt action. You divide the society in every manner possible for electoral gains & then shed crocodile tears. Enough is Enough. You are a MERCHANT OF HATE,” Goyal tweeted.

Stop jumping with joy every time a crime happens, Mr Rahul Gandhi.

The state has already assured strict & prompt action.

You divide the society in every manner possible for electoral gains & then shed crocodile tears.

Enough is Enough. You are a MERCHANT OF HATE. https://t.co/4thsyNL3nx

— Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) July 23, 2018

Backing Goyal was Union minister Smriti Irani, who said that the Congress president’s brand of politics is called “vulture politics”.

“Rahul Gandhi’s family presided over the worst form of hate in 1984, Bhagalpur & Nellie & many other instances. It is shameful that he is doing the same through vulture politics. Not a single instance goes by where he doesn’t attempt to rupture social bonds for electoral gains,” she wrote referring to the 1984 Sikh riots, the 1989 Bhagalpur violence in Bihar and the 1983 Nellie Massacre in Assam.

Rahul Gandhi’s family presided over the worst form of hate in 1984, Bhagalpur & Nellie & many other instances.

It is shameful that he is doing the same through VULTURE POLITICS.

Not a single instance goes by where he doesn’t attempt to rupture social bonds for electoral gains. https://t.co/kpX3n1Kcc0

— Smriti Z Irani (@smritiirani) July 23, 2018

But Congress was not the one to back down. Party leader Salman Anees Soz responded to Goyal’s “Merchant of Hate” remark with a tweet raising fingers at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah.

“If Rahul Gandhi is a “Merchant of Hate”, I shudder to think what Narendra Modi & Amit Shah are. We fight for the weak. We fight injustice. We fight for the truth. You only fight for power,” he wrote.

If Rahul Gandhi is a “Merchant of Hate”, I shudder to think what Narendra Modi & Amit Shah are.

We fight for the weak. We fight injustice. We fight for the truth.

You only fight for power. https://t.co/cI5cXkncHJ

— Salman Anees Soz (@SalmanSoz) July 23, 2018

On Friday, during the no-confidence motion in Parliament, Gandhi shocked the House by planting a hug on the Prime Minister. After taking the nation by surprise, the 48-year-old Congress chief said, “You may hate me, you may be angry at me; you may even call me pappu. You can hurl abuses at me but I do not have any anger or hate for you. I am Congress, and all of them (the Opposition) are the Congress. This feeling and the Congress have built this nation. And you should never forget that.”