Delhi police on Sunday questioned Rahul Gandhi over his revelation that during the Bharat Jodo Yatra, he had met women who claimed to be victims of sexual exploitation and domestic violence. The Congress cited the police’s zeal that coincided with a standoff in Parliament and followed a stupor — Rahul had spoken of the women 48 days ago in Srinagar — to say the politics of intimidation and harassment had crossed all limits.
Rahul had in a letter sought 10 days to respond to a notice that the Delhi police, who report to the Union home ministry, had served three days ago. But a team led by special commissioner Sagar Preet Hooda arrived at his residence on Sunday morning. The two-hour police presence at Rahul’s residence created unease in the Congress, with many leaders tweeting their concerns.
“Nobody knows where (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi and (Union home minister) Amit Shah will drag this country to. The situation is dangerous and every citizen should be worried,” Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot said. “Is this how democracy works? After seeing the tamasha of ED, CBI, police… do you need any proof to show democracy is in peril? And when somebody talks about it, you get disturbed by the truth.”
Rahul had during his recent UK trip alleged a threat to democracy in India, which has led Union ministers and BJP leaders to accuse him of insulting India on foreign soil. (PTI quoted the police as saying that since the Yatra had passed through Delhi also, they wanted to ascertain if any victim had approached the Congress leader here so that they could initiate a probe into the matter. “The police asked him to give details of these victims so that security could be provided to them,” an officer told PTI.)
Congress spokesperson and senior lawyer Abhishek Singhvi provided details of the police action at a news conference. “Rahulji received a two-page notice containing several questions about what he had said (at the concluding event of the Yatra) in Srinagar,” he said.
“Rahulji sought 10 days to reply but the police team reached his residence this morning, the second time in three days. They were sleeping for 45 days and are now in such haste.” Rahul’s Srinagar comments had come on January 30 but the police notice was issued only after the government decided to corner him over his UK remarks.
Rahul Gandhi leaves his residence in New Delhi on Sunday. PTI
Rahul had recalled at the Srinagar event how he had during the walkathon met some women who had cried and complained about rape, molestation and domestic violence. “I told them, should I inform police, but they insisted their plight will become more miserable after that,” Rahul had said. “This is the fact of our society, women face this even today.”
The police are now seeking details about these women — their names, the places where Rahul met them and what exactly they had said — even though no complaint seems to have been lodged against these women or Rahul’s comments. The Congress is gearing up to fight the battle both legally and politically. The police have been told that a detailed response to their queries would follow. “This is the most absurd way of harassment. On a 4,000km walk over 140 days, who will remember the specific details after meeting lakhs of people?” Singhvi said.
“People come with all kinds of grievances and complaints to politicians. If they talk about their impressions of ground reality, when do the police start questioning (them)? We asked them (the police) how many times they had questioned political leaders for sharing their experiences?” Singhvi said no other leader in independent India had faced such harassment. “Is this linked to the questions Rahul Gandhi has been asking about Adani’s affairs? Where have they dragged politics to? You have crossed all limits of intimidation and vendetta,” he said.
“This is the extreme of intolerance. And this questioning is not about the legal process, this is about the creation of fear and a sensational atmosphere in which real issues get drowned. Even by the low standards of the Modi government, this pettiness is unbelievable.” Gehlot, who briefed the media along with party communications chief Jairam Ramesh and Singhvi, said: “This is not a police initiative. This can’t be done without orders from the top. The harassment of Rahul Gandhi is beyond imagination.”
He added: “You can imagine how this regime would treat ordinary citizens if main Opposition leaders are targeted in this manner. But we won’t give up.” Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel said, without naming anyone, that “two persons” were determined to save “one person” and hence the police were sent to Rahul’s residence after the crackdown in Parliament.
The government has so far prevented any discussion in Parliament of the allegations of stock market manipulation and accounting fraud against the Adani group, with the Congress alleging Modi was protecting the businessman because of personal proximity to him. “They sent the police and raised these issues only to divert attention from the Adani affair,” Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said. “You see the tamasha to harass Rahul Gandhi. But we are not going to spare them. Our struggle will continue.”
Ramesh too alleged a government strategy to target Rahul, attributing it to the Congress leader having focused his speech in the Lok Sabha, during the first leg of the budget session, on Modi’s relations with Adani. Rahul’s remarks had been expunged. The Congress has continued to demand a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) on the Adani controversy. While the JPC demand is backed by 16 Opposition parties, no leader other than Rahul has gone into details of the Adani controversy or spoken of a threat to democracy.
