Democracy is about winning and losing elections: Cong

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Thursday rejected the view that party chief Sonia Gandhi's 'merchants of death' remark turned the tide in favour of Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the Gujarat Assembly elections, saying the truth has to be told.
  
"The truth has to be told. We have to fight it up front. Democracy is not about winning or losing a state election.... Modi is something that the Congress abhors," senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal said here.
   
He was reacting to a question on whether Central leaders like Gandhi raised the pitch in the Gujarat elections and whether the "merchants of death" remark was a strategic error.
   
"We have set the agenda and we want that kind of polity which Narendra Modi does not represent. We will continue to fight," Sibal said.
   
Accusing the Modi regime of instilling fear in the minds of the people of the state, he said, "Fascists do win and repeat their victory."
   
Gandhi had used the "merchants of death" remark in her election speech in Gujarat on December one, triggering a controversy and inviting an angry response from Modi, who hit back by apparently justifying the encounter killing of Sohrabuddin.