Rahul Gandhi’s car pelted with stones in Gujarat
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DHANERA: Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi’s car was pelted with stones on Friday during his visit to this flood-affected town, but he escaped unhurt, police said.
Superintendent of Police Neeraj Badgujar said a man threw stones at Gandhi’s car, breaking its rear glass when he was on his way from Lal Chowk to the helipad in Dhanera.
The Congress leader remained unhurt, he added.
“We have detained the person who threw stones on the vehicle of Rahul Gandhi,” Badgujar said. “Rahul Gandhi refused a bullet-proof car for travelling and opted for a private car,” Gujarat’s Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel said.
Earlier, the Congress leader was heckled by protesters at an event. He left the stage in a huff after making a brief speech in Lal Chowk area of the town in Banaskantha district after protesters showed black flags to him.
Some of the people gathered at the spot also raised slogans in praise of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Notably, the Congress MLA from the area is in Bengaluru as part of the party legislators who have been flown to the southern city apparently to avoid being “poached” by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the Aug 8 Rajya Sabha polls.
Reacting to the attack on his car, Gandhi tweeted that black flags and stones could not deter Congress.
Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi accused the BJP “goons” of carrying out the “dastardly” attack. He said that several cars in the convoy were damaged, their windowpanes smashed and an SPG man suffered minor injuries.
“All this because the Congress vice president went to a flood-affected area,” he said.
“BJP goons attack Congress VP Rahulji’s car in Lal Chowk, Dhanera, Banaskanta, Gujarat. Disgusting and disgraceful,” Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said in a tweet.
Calling Rahul Gandhi a “perpetual tourist”, Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said that people of Gujarat knew about the tricks of the Congress rather too well. “Their anti-people and anti-Gujarat mindset is not a secret,” Rupani tweeted after the attack on Gandhi’s car.
By arrangement with the Times of India
Published in Dawn, August 5th, 2017
