Scuffle at Rahul Gandhi’s road show in Bareilly

bareilly — A scuffle broke out between Congress workers and SPG personnel guarding Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi here on Wednesday as party activists tried to get close to garland him but were stopped.

Eventually, Gandhi intervened to cool tempers on both sides.

As Gandhi was here on the 19th day of his ongoing 2,500-km ‘Kisan Yatra’ through Uttar Pradesh, local Congress leader Amjad Saleem tried to come close to Gandhi with a garland but SPG personnel around the Congress vice president prevented him.

Saleem and his supporters protested and an argument broke out. As both sides even came to blows, Gandhi stepped in to pacify Saleem and asked the SPG personnel to retreat. Security has been heightened around Gandhi after a shoe was hurled at him on Monday during the road show in Sitapur. SPG men are keeping a close watch on people trying to get close to the Congress Vice President and the number of those around him has also been increased.

Gandhi earlier started his trip in Bareilly by paying obeisance at the Dhopeshwar Nath temple after which he addressed a meeting at the Ruhelkhand university gate.

The scuffle disrupted the programme a bit, and Gandhi left for Rampur where he was slated to address a ‘khaat sabha’.

Meanwhile the youth who threw a shoe at Gandhi was sent to jail on Tuesday, police said.

Hari Om Mishra was to be presented in the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Court on Wednesday.

Gandhi had claimed the shoe hurling incident was the handiwork of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the Bharatiya Janata Party though the assailant told police that he was miffed with Gandhi’s “lies”. “Rahul Gandhi has been talking of loan waivers for the farmers and jobs to the unemployed while his party has ruled the country for the past 60 years ... what happened during the Congress regime, they ruined the nation” he told police during interrogation, soon after his arrest.

Mishra has done a journalism course but has no job and is said to be frustrated with his unemployment.

Meanwhile, Gandhi on Wednesday accused the ministers in the Akhilesh Yadav government in Uttar Pradesh of “patronising” criminals, saying this was the reason why the law and order situation had collapsed in the state.

“Crime has increased as it is being patronised by the higher-ups. Hooligans are being patronised by ministers in the Uttar Pradesh government. This is the reason behind the poor law and order situation in the state,” he told the students of Rohilkhand University during an interactive session with them. — IANS,TPTI