Throwing shoes at political leaders to register protest seems to have become a trend in this election. A 21-year-old youth hurled a shoe at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during a rally in Ahmedabad on Sunday. However, the shoe fell short of the dais from where Singh was addressing his first election rally in Gujarat during the ongoing Lok Sabha polls.
Security personnel immediately detained the thrower and handed him over to the crime branch for questioning. The incident took place a few minutes after the PM started his address. The PM did not want the police to register a case against the thrower, said sources in the Congress.
Soon after the address, Singh spoke to Congress Legislature Party leader Shaktisinh Gohil and asked him to communicate to the police not to register case against the youth, identified as Hitesh Chauhan, who hurled a shoe at the PM. Chauhan is an engineering student in Gandhinagar and he is a resident of Ahmedabad’s Bapunagar area, which is largely inhibited by diamond workers.