 "Rahul faces a flying shoe again")
A shoe was on Monday hurled at Rahul Gandhi when he was in the middle of his kisan yatra across poll-bound Uttar Pradesh. The Congress vice-president blamed the BJP and the RSS for the incident. The shoe missed Rahul.
Hariom Mishra (25), the man who hurled the shoe, was immediately overpowered by the police and taken into custody for questioning. The shoe missed the Gandhi scion narrowly, the police said.
Rahul kept his cool after the incident and said he won't be cowed down by such petty acts. "I am not afraid of such attacks. I want to tell them that I will not back down and keep fighting. They can attack me as many times as they want," Rahul said in Sitapur. He attributed the incident to anger among RSS and BJP workers due to their own shortcomings. "The anger is yours. I will not accept it even if you give it to me," said Rahul.
He had faced a similar incident in January 2012 as well, when a young man hurled a shoe at him during an election rally in Dehra Dun. The shoe had missed the target then also.
Mishra, who claimed to be a journalist, said he was angry over Rahul taking part in a roadshow, instead of paying tributes to the Uri martyrs. Maintaining that he had no regrets for his act, Mishra said Rahul was on Monday showing concern for people when he could have worked to improve their condition when his party was in power.
"The Congress has left the country down in the dumps in the last 60 years. I have been a journalist for two years and I know. What were they doing when they were in power?" he said, while being whisked away in a police van.
Shoes have been hurled at various political figures as a mark of public anger. Recently, Congress lawmaker Tarlochan Singh hurled a shoe at Punjab minister Bikram Singh Majithia in the Assembly. In April, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had faced a flying footwear. In 2009, Jarnail Singh (journalist then, AAP MLA now) hurled a shoe at then home minister P Chidambaram. The same year a man in Ahmedabad tried to hurl a shoe at then prime minister Manmohan Singh but did not succeed. In 2010, former chief minister Omar Abdullah had a shoe thrown at him by a police officer.
If the domestic names do not inspire, Rahul can take solace from the fact that former US president George Bush had to face two shoe missiles in 2008. And that too from an Iraqi journalist. "This is a gift from the Iraqis; this is the farewell kiss, you dog!" Muntader al-Zaidi had said before throwing one shoe. "This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq!" came with the second shoe. In 2013, then Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf had to content with a shoe that hit his nose, thrown by a lawyer who "hated Musharraf for trying to destroy democracy in Pakistan".
Describing the Sitapur incident as cheap politics, AICC spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said the BJP was getting nervous over the response that Rahul's kisan yatra was getting from people. "They are nervous. These are cheap, set up tactics," he said.
Hariom Mishra (25), the man who hurled the shoe, was immediately overpowered by the police and taken into custody for questioning. The shoe missed the Gandhi scion narrowly, the police said.
Rahul kept his cool after the incident and said he won't be cowed down by such petty acts. "I am not afraid of such attacks. I want to tell them that I will not back down and keep fighting. They can attack me as many times as they want," Rahul said in Sitapur. He attributed the incident to anger among RSS and BJP workers due to their own shortcomings. "The anger is yours. I will not accept it even if you give it to me," said Rahul.
He had faced a similar incident in January 2012 as well, when a young man hurled a shoe at him during an election rally in Dehra Dun. The shoe had missed the target then also.
Mishra, who claimed to be a journalist, said he was angry over Rahul taking part in a roadshow, instead of paying tributes to the Uri martyrs. Maintaining that he had no regrets for his act, Mishra said Rahul was on Monday showing concern for people when he could have worked to improve their condition when his party was in power.
"The Congress has left the country down in the dumps in the last 60 years. I have been a journalist for two years and I know. What were they doing when they were in power?" he said, while being whisked away in a police van.
Shoes have been hurled at various political figures as a mark of public anger. Recently, Congress lawmaker Tarlochan Singh hurled a shoe at Punjab minister Bikram Singh Majithia in the Assembly. In April, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had faced a flying footwear. In 2009, Jarnail Singh (journalist then, AAP MLA now) hurled a shoe at then home minister P Chidambaram. The same year a man in Ahmedabad tried to hurl a shoe at then prime minister Manmohan Singh but did not succeed. In 2010, former chief minister Omar Abdullah had a shoe thrown at him by a police officer.
If the domestic names do not inspire, Rahul can take solace from the fact that former US president George Bush had to face two shoe missiles in 2008. And that too from an Iraqi journalist. "This is a gift from the Iraqis; this is the farewell kiss, you dog!" Muntader al-Zaidi had said before throwing one shoe. "This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq!" came with the second shoe. In 2013, then Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf had to content with a shoe that hit his nose, thrown by a lawyer who "hated Musharraf for trying to destroy democracy in Pakistan".
Describing the Sitapur incident as cheap politics, AICC spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said the BJP was getting nervous over the response that Rahul's kisan yatra was getting from people. "They are nervous. These are cheap, set up tactics," he said.