No big deal if I was pushed by cops on way to Hathras, says Rahul

Rahul Gandhi, who is in Punjab to protest against new farm laws, has said “it is no big deal” that he was pushed and he fell to the ground last week during a tussle with the UP police when he was marching to Hathras to meet the family of a woman allegedly gang raped and brutally assaulted in the UP district. The woman later died and hastily cremated.

“The entire country is being pushed to a corner and being beaten up. What’s the big deal if I, too, was pushed. It’s our job to protect the country; we have to stand with the farmers. The government is such that if we stand against them, we will be pushed. Dhakka kha lenge, lathi kha lenge (we will bear the push and the lathis),” said the Congress MP.

“Jo unimaginable dhakka laga… wo us parivar ko laga…(the real jolt was felt by the victim’s family),” he said.

“People who have daughters will understand this. Do you have a daughter? Imagine, someone kills your son and locks you up in your house. The District Magistrate threatens you and tells you not to open your mouth. What if they tell you: ‘Rahul Gandhi will go, but the UP government will be here’. That’s why I went there so they don’t feel alone. I am here for all the women who have faced sexual violence,” said Rahul.

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Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra – in their second attempt – visited the victim’s family on Saturday, four days after she died at a hospital in Delhi. They were allowed to go to Hathras, two days after their march to the UP district was thwarted.

Rahul was pushed and he fell to the ground amid a tussle with UP cops last Thursday. The next day, Trinamool Congress’ Derek O’Brien was stopped from meeting the victim’s family.

A case has been filed against 500 Congress workers for “unlawful assembly” at the Delhi-UP border. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was seen in a video trying to protect some of the supporters who had gathered at the border and were lathicharged.

Rahul also referred to the allegations that the Hathras family was threatened by the District Magistrate. “Do not finish your credibility. These media people… some left today and tomorrow more will leave. Only we will be here with you. Ok? It is up to you whether you want to change your statement or not. We can also change,” District Magistrate Praveen Kumar Laxkar is heard saying in the video filmed on a mobile phone.

The allegations, however, have been dismissed by the UP officials.