The shattered remains of the rear windshield of a black Toyota Innova Hycross on Wednesday curiously generated fragmented versions — at least four till the end of the evening — of what had caused it.

The reason for the sensation: next to the driver in the car — registered in Chhattisgarh, with the license plate CG10BP2800 — sat Rahul Gandhi, while re-entering Bengal from Bihar with his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in the afternoon.

The four alternative, contradictory versions added to Bengal’s generally dramatic political stage the Rashomon effect — named after Japanese maestro Akira Kurosawa’s 1950 cinematic classic Rashomon — in which parties describe an event in a different and contradictory manner, which reflects their self-interested advocacy, rather than the objective truth.

The Wayanad Congress MP appeared unperturbed as he got off and walked away with a smile, a wave, and some handshakes, to break for lunch at Debipur near Ratua in Malda district. Later in the day, in his brief address to the crowds gathered at Malda town’s Phoara More, Rahul did not bring it up.

But from his party’s Bengal state chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury — Mamata Banerjee’s bete noire — who was behind him in the car, came the first of the four versions. Chowdhury told journalists that the rear windshield had been smashed by stones
pelted in Bengal territory, following which a 38km journey was made with the car in that condition.

“It is easily understandable who did this and why,” said the Behrampore MP, seeking to imply that the Trinamul Congress was responsible for the broken windshield.

“Stones were hurled at Rahulji’s car upon entry in Bengal, from the back. I couldn’t see properly (who did it)…. If such a person’s security is handled this way, in addition to all the administrative non-cooperation meted out to his Yatra, what is left to be said?” asked Chowdhury, who has been singled out by Trinamul for having destroyed the INDIA constituents’ seat-sharing negotiations in Bengal.

His version was feverishly backed by CPM central committee member Sujan Chakraborty, who brought up the assassinations of Rahul’s father Rajiv Gandhi and paternal grandmother Indira Gandhi. It was also enthusiastically endorsed by the BJP’s chief spokesperson for Bengal Samik Bhattacharya, who brought up a December 2020 stone-pelting incident in Diamond Harbour at his party’s national president J.P. Nadda’s convoy and claimed the latest incident laid bare the allegedly alarming state of democracy, besides law and order, in Bengal.

Not long after, the second version emerged. The Congress’s general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh and CWC member Kanhaiya Kumar were in a news conference at Debipur when they were asked about the broken rear windshield. Ramesh said Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge had written a letter on the matter.

“In it, he wrote that it was, perhaps, done by some miscreants who wanted to malign the Bengal government,” he said, going on to heap superlative praise on Mamata, underscoring her Congress past and asserting how “inspiring” she was.

A third version came on X in a matter of minutes from Supriya Shrinate, the Congress’s chief of social media and digital platforms, who said it was “false news”, and that the rear windshield had been shattered by accident in Bihar, by a rope used in the security cordon, when a large, loving crowd had gathered to greet Rahul.

“False news needs clarification. A huge crowd had come to meet Rahulji, when a woman suddenly came forward to meet him, the car had to be stopped at once. The windshield of the car was broken because of the rope used in the security circle,” she wrote in Hindi, in what Bengal unit sources of her party called the “unkindest cut”.

“Rahulji is fighting the battle for justice diligently and this country not only stands with him but will also keep him safe,” added Shrinate.

The fourth version was offered by the chief minister. At a Behrampore event, she said the damage had indeed been an act of vandalism — not love — but it had happened in Katihar of Bihar, 65km from Ratua, where JDU chief Nitish Kumar realigned days ago with the BJP to form an NDA government again.

“I was on my way here, in a helicopter, when I got a message. That Rahul’s car had its windshield smashed. I gathered information. I don’t like these things. We don’t do these things. What is to be gained from such drama, for nothing?” asked Mamata.

“I found out that it was not in Bengal. That happened in Katihar of Bihar. They entered Bengal with the broken glass,” she added.

“I condemn the incident. I condemn any such attack, on anybody…. In Bihar, Nitish-BJP reunited just now. They might have some anger,” said Mamata.