Rahul Gandhi visits vandalised office in Wayanad, calls it ‘irresponsible act’

Wayanad (Kerala), July 1

Calling the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) activists who had vandalised his office as “kids”, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday said he does not harbour any anger or hostility towards them and reminded them that violence never resolves problems.

 Gandhi, who is on a three-day visit to his constituency here, reached the office along with other senior leaders of the party and took stock of the damage.

The Wayanad MP met the party workers, who had suffered injuries in the attack, examined the damaged articles and sat on the office chair after removing the plantain tree placed by the attackers on it.

It is for the first time that he is arriving in his Lok Sabha constituency after his MP’s office here was attacked by the students’ wing of the ruling CPI(M) last Friday over the buffer zone issue.

 Later, he told reporters that it is the office of the people of Wayanad and what had been done by the Left students’ cadre was “quite an unfortunate thing.”  But, he made it clear that violence never resolves problems and he does not harbour any anger or hostility towards them. “Everywhere in the country, you see the idea that violence will resolve problems. And, violence never resolves problems… It’s not a good thing to do…they acted in an irresponsible way. But, I don’t have any anger or hostility towards them,” he said.

Gandhi also called the SFI activists who indulged in violence as “kids”.

Last week, a protest march of the SFI against Gandhi turned violent after a group of Left activists allegedly barged into his office here and vandalised it, prompting Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to strongly condemn the incident and warn of stern action against the culprits.

Strongly condemning “the act of violence” by SFI of its top leader’s office at Kalpetta in Gandhi’s LS constituency Wayanad, the Congress staged a statewide protest, which turned violent in some regions.

The incident occurred when the SFI activists held a march to Gandhi’s office alleging his inaction in the issue of buffer zones around forests.

Issuing a slew of directions, the Supreme Court had on June 3 ordered that no permanent structure would be allowed within eco-sensitive zones and said if the local law or other rules provide for an ESZ of more than one kilometre, then the earlier provision would continue to apply.