Rajnath Singh

Defence Minister of India

Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh responds to the incident of stone-throwing at Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi’s car during his visit to Gujarat’s Banaskantha

Responding to incident of stone-throwing at Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi’s car during his visit to Gujarat’s Banaskantha last week, Union Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh provided the full details of security provided to Rahul Gandhi during his recent visit.

Responding in Lok Sabha over the incident, Home Minister said that Rahul Gandhi visited Dhanera and Thara, District Banaskantha, Gujarat on 4th August, 2017 and as Rahul Gandhi is a SPG Protectee, the Advance Security Liaising (ASL) in respect of the scheduled visit of Rahul Gandhi was done.

Later in series of tweets he added, “Two Bullet Resistance cars were provided for Shri Rahul Gandhi at Dhanera but he sat in a Non BR car while travelling. There was a heavy presence of security personnel at Dhanera. Security arrangements are made as a part of a set drill which follows SOP.”

However he also highlighted the fact that in past there have been many instances of Rahul Gandhi ignoring the security advice. “It is worth mentioning that in the past, there have been many instances of Shri Gandhi ignoring the security advice: In his earlier visit to Gujarat on 21.07.2017, Shri Gandhi preferred to use a non-BR car in disregard of advice given by SPG to use BR Car”, said the Home Minister.

He further added, “Shri Rahul Gandhi undertook 121 tours in the last 2 years, out of which there were 100 security protocol violations of not using BR Car:In the last 2 years, Shri Gandhi has been out on 06 foreign visits for 72 days. He has not kept the SPG cover with himself in these 72 days. We want to know why didn’t Shri Rahul Gandhi take SPG cover on several foreign trips? What is he trying to hide?”

Further adding that SPG protectee get security cover under an Act of Parliament reflecting the will and wisdom of Parliament for providing security, Home Minister added that “going abroad without taking SPG cover is not only a violation of the SPG Act, but also a negligence towards one’s own security”

Further dwelling into the progress into investigation in the matter Home Minister said, “1 person has been arrested during the course of investigation, who is now in judicial custody.I congratulate state police for swift action and CM Gujarat has appointed an officer of the ADG rank to inquire into all the relevant aspects of the Dhanera incident”.