Janjivan Bureau / New Delhi: The Lok Sabha on Tuesday was disrupted and finally adjourned for the day after the Congress raised the issue of attack on Rahul Gandhi in Gujarat on August 4, and Home Minister Rajnath Singh countered it saying the Congress Vice President had violated security rules putting himself at risk.
The matter came up in the Lok Sabha after Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge raised the issue of the “potentially fatal” attack on Gandhi in Gujarat.
Responding to the allegations, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said: “Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi was away from India on six occasions for 72 days without taking any SPG security along, posing grave threat to himself.”
Kharge alleged that if one of the stones had hit their leader, he could have been killed.
Rajnath Singh told the Lok Sabha that the Gujarat Police was informed about Gandhi’s two days visit before he travelled to the state.
“Rahul Gandhi is under SPG protection. The state police had made adequate arrangement for the visit. He was even provided a bullet-proof car. But he opted for a private Toyota fortuner car. He should have listened to the advice of security personnel. But he did not,” he said.
Kharge said: “We are not afraid of stone-pelting. Rahul is ‘shaheed ka beta’ (son of a martyr in reference to ha father former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, who was assassinated in May 1991).”
Kharge demanded an apology from the BJP and asked: “If Gujarat BJP leaders have turned into terrorists and wanted take Rahul’s life.”
In his response, Rajnath Singh reeled out numbers of cops put on security detail for Rahul.
The stone -pelters have been arrested and are in judicial custody. “We are taking the matter seriously,” the Home Minister said.
“Whatever happened in Gujarat was unfortunate and stone-pelting cannot be accepted,” he said.
