A bizarre security lapse took place on Sunday as Congress leader Rahul Gandhi led the ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’ in Bihar. The Raebareli MP had been driving slowly through the massive crowd when a young man broke through the security cordon and tried to kiss the politician. Hundreds of bikers — including RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav — were also riding alongside Gandhi when the unlikely display of affection took place. The man was quickly shoved aside by security personnel and taken into custody as the Leader of Lok Sabha struggled to balance his bike.
“The LoP was being escorted by a Close Protection Team, which appears to have handled the situation. However, if the CPT flags any concerns to the local police, we will track down the person concerned and take necessary action,” Purnea SP Sweety Sehrawat told PTI.
Massive security breach
Footage of the incident doing the rounds on social media show the unidentified man pushing through the crowd to hug a bike-borne Gandhi before planting a kiss on his shoulder. The politician — seeming visibly taken aback — struggled to keep the vehicle balanced as security personnel pounced on the intruder. A bodyguard who had been riding pillion on a bike with RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav can be seen stepping forward to push the over-enthusiastic fan away from Gandhi. The incident took place in Purnea district from where Gandhi left for adjoining Araria on a motorcycle.
Videos of the incident have since gone viral — leaving many in splits about the situation. Others voiced concern about the security lapse and noted that things could have gone alarmingly wrong for Gandhi and his supporters. A smaller section of the internet also insisted that the man had been treated harshly and did not ‘deserve’ to be slapped by the bodyguard.
Voter Adhikar Yatra
The Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha wound up the second leg of the yatra, which will now resume on Tuesday, with a press conference in Araria district, where he reached from adjoining Purnea in an impromptu motorcycle rally. A week into the fortnight-long ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’, Gandhi also seemed delighted at the response, claiming that people were taking part “organically, without being asked to do so”, and that the slogan ‘vote chor, gaddi chhod’ (vote thief, vacate your seat of power) was now on the lips of “even six-year-old children”.