Physical altercations involving high-profile politicians are rare, yet INC’s Priyanka Gandhi Vadra managed to get into two on the same day, having her security breached at a party event and then getting into showdown with police.
Saturday turned out to be very eventful for Priyanka Gandhi, general secretary for the All India Congress Committee (AICC) for Uttar Pradesh. The first incident occurred during an event in the state capital, Lucknow, being held to mark the anniversary of the Indian National Congress (INC), currently the main opposition party in the country.
Footage from the scene shows a man apparently slipping past her security detail to meet the politician in person. Security – and fellow politicians – grabbed him only when he was standing right in front of Ghandi, yet she dismissed the help and talked to him for a while.
The altercation met with quite a mixed reaction online; some praised her kindness, while others alleged the whole incident was staged, given how unimpressed the politician was as the intruder approached, and also taking into consideration that Gandhi's father Rajiv and grandmother Indira were assassinated. Later, it was reported that the man was actually an INC staffer and no complaint was filed over the incident.
After the party event, Gandhi headed out to meet the family of SR Darapuri, a 76-year-old retired policeman and cancer patient, who had been arrested for “rioting” during recent protests over the controversial citizenship bill.
Gandhi’s trip was interrupted by local police, who stopped her motorcade. Footage from the scene shows several police officers repeatedly grabbing the politician. Gandhi later accused a policewoman of “manhandling” and even “strangulating” her – so far, however no footage to corroborate the latter claim has surfaced.
The politician then continued her trip by scooter – only to be surrounded by the police again, and ultimately having to walk.
“The UP police stopped me while I was going to meet Darapuri's family. They grabbed me by the neck and manhandled me. They then surrounded me while I was on a party worker's two-wheeler, after which I walked to reach there,” Gandhi told India’s media.
Eventually, she reached the family of the arrested man and talked to them. The local INC office blamed the authorities for the attempt to stop the party’s members, who simply wanted to “meet someone and share his sorrows”. Congress chief Ajay Kumar Lallu went on to claim that the government are “scared” of Gandhi.
The citizenship law has been a major source of unrest in the country over the past few weeks, with critics calling it ‘anti-Muslim’. The legislation facilitates the procurement of India’s citizenship for people who have entered the country while fleeing religious persecution in neighboring Muslim-majority countries.
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