A man was detained in Uttar Pradesh’s Sitapur on Monday for hurling a shoe at Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi.
A man was detailed for hurling a shoe at Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi in Sitapur, Uttar Pradesh. (ANI Photo)
Gandhi was holding a road show in the central UP town when Hari Om Mishra, believed to be between 30 and 35 years, threw a shoe at the Congress leader.
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The shoe did not hit Gandhi, who blamed the BJP-RSS combine for the incident.
Gandhi, one of the most protected politicians in the country, is on a 2,500-km ‘Kisan Yatra’ across Uttar Pradesh, seeking to revive the Congress in a bellwether state it dominated before regional parties built along caste lines displaced it from power 27 years ago and left it a marginal player.
Mishra, who claimed to be a former journalist, alleged that Gandhi had no time to pay homage to the 18 soldiers killed in a militant attack on an army base in northern Kashmir’s Uri on September 18.
Yet Gandhi was holding road shows and khat sabhas in UP, Mishra alleged, referring to the Congress leader’s campaigns in the poll-bound state.
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He also alleged that Congress had failed to deliver when the party was in power at the Centre.
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He also alleged that Congress had failed to deliver when the party was in power at the Centre.
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Police caught hold of Mishra, a resident of Shastri Nagar locality, immediately after the incident. He was being interrogated.
Soon after the incident, Gandhi hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party and its ideological parent, the RSS.
“Someone hurled a shoe at me. The shoe did not touch me, but I want to tell BJP and RSS people that throw as many shoes you want, I won’t back out.
“My brotherhood and love will stay with me, your hatred will stick to you,” Gandhi said.
Gandhi, 46, is campaigning through 26 districts of the state whose chief minister Akhilesh Yadav is trying to beat back a power struggle in his Samajwadi Party just months before the election.
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Gandhi’s Congress faced an embarrassment earlier this month when people ran away with khats (cots) from a party event.
Pawan Dixit, Assistant Editor, brings over 20 years of frontline reporting experience to the newsroom. A specialist on Uttar Pradesh politics and governance, he has reported from the ground across the state’s most consequential stories. He cut his teeth in eastern UP, spending 15 years covering the region. Based in Varanasi, he reported the 2012 UP Assembly polls and the 2014 Lok Sabha elections that reshaped the state’s political map. Moving to Lucknow in 2016, he has since led coverage of the 2017 and 2022 UP Assembly elections and the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. His reporting tracks the BJP’s strategy, opposition moves, and voter sentiment across all 75 districts. Pawan has been a constant presence in Ayodhya since 2016. He reported the entire arc of the Ram Mandir movement — from the legal fight to the Supreme Court verdict, through temple construction, to the inauguration. He continues to track every development at the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust. On the state beat, he covers the BJP, the Industrial Development Department, and handles key outstation political assignments. He also reports major cases from the district court, Lucknow bench of the High Court, and the State Information Commission. Along with this, he also reports on NGT's important decisions related to UP. Known for sharp sourcing and clear analysis, Pawan connects politics, policy, infrastructure and faith — the forces driving UP today. He has reported developments in Ayodhya and Ram Mandir movement since 2016. The Supreme Court's Ram Mandir verdict, temple construction and the its opening have been reported by him.
He reports all developments in Ayodhya and Ram Mandir Trust.
He covers state BJP, Industrial development department, outstation political assignments, reports special cases from district court, high court and state information commission
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