Congress fears threat to Rahul Gandhi’s life
‘We also call upon you to ensure that full security protocol — including appropriate sanitisation of the area — is undertaken by the SPG as also the local administration’
India’s prime opposition Congress has writen to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) that the life of its leader Rahul Gandhi was at risk on Wednesday when he went to file his nomination for the Lok Sabha seat in Amethi, Utar Pradesh.
“There is a threat, his security was breached,” the Congress wrote.
“We also call upon you to ensure that full security protocol — including appropriate sanitisation of the area — is undertaken by the SPG as also the local administration, who are obligated to do so,” the Congress’s leter said, stressing that Rahul Gandhi’s security is the home ministry’s “first responsibility.” “Your office would be aware that the Congress president being a high risk target is especially vulnerable during the extensive electioneering in the ongoing 2019 elections,” the Congress told the government.
The Congress told the media that a laser was pointed at Rahul’s head.
“It could have come from a sniper rifle,” the complaint said.
In a leter to home minister Rajnath Singh, senior leaders Ahmed Patel, Jairam Ramesh and Randeep Singh Surjewala had expressed concern over the “grave and unacceptable” to Rahul Gandhi’s life.
The Congress had also sent a copy of Rahul Gandhi’s media interaction, which it said, showed “a laser (green) was pointed at his head, intermitently on at least 7 separate occasions in a short period.” The Utar Pradesh government is in “alarming lapse,” the party said, and asked the Centre to “probe and neutralise the threat.” Gandhi is an SPG (Special Protection Group) protectee because his father Rajiv Gandhi and grandmother Indira Gandhi were assassinated.
MHA said they haven’t received the letter. However, they explained ater consulting Gandhi’s SPG agencts that the light was from a cellphone. “We’ve consulted Gandhi’s SPG security,” the ministry said.
“The ‘green light’ shown in the clipping was found to be that of a mobile phone used by the AICC photographer, who was videographing the impromptu press interaction of Shri Rahul Gandhi near the collectorate at Amethi,” the MHA spokesperson said, citing a report received from the SPG chief.
“The SPG director has confirmed that there was no security implication whatsoever,” the spokesperson said. The SPG has also conveyed these facts to the Rahul Gandhi’s office, the home ministry said.
A security video of Gandhi’s media interaction shows a spot of green light on the temple of the leader.
This light was pointed “intermitently on at least 7 separate occasions in a short period; including twice at his temple on the right side of the head,” read the leter, signed by senior party leaders Ahmed Patel, Randeep Surjewala and Jairam Ramesh.
Ater examination of the footage, various people including four security personnel, have come to the conclusion that it could be a from a sniper gun, the leter claimed.
In April last year, the Congress had alleged “tampering” ater an aircrat he had taken to Karnataka, reportedly developed “multiple faults.” Gandhi was campaigning in Karnataka ahead of the assembly elections in the state.
Civil aviation regulator DGCA had said the problem was with the autopilot mode, which is not uncommon. But the pilot had shited to manual and landed safely, he aviation body had said.
India’s gargantuan election, the biggest in history, kicks off on Thursday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking a second term from the South Asian behemoth’s 900 million voters.
Opinion polls put Modi, 68, as the favourite but he faces a tough challenge from not one but two scions of India’s storied Nehru-gandhi dynasty atempting to capitalise on his poor record on jobs and rural poverty.
Because of the vastness of India, the election will be held in seven phases, from the tea plantations of Darjeeling to the slums of Mumbai to the tropical Andaman Islands, and everywhere in between.
Security forces are on high alert due to the perennial danger of violence, with five people including a local lawmaker killed in an ambush by suspected Maoist rebels this week.
Thousands of parties and candidates will run for office between now and May 19 in 543 constituencies across the nation of 1.3 billion people, with results not due until May 23.