Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh took a jibe at Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday for not taking Special Protection Group (SPG) personnel along with him during his foreign jaunts, seeking to know what the Congress vice-president “had to hide” in such tours.
“In the last two years, Rahul Gandhi was out for 72 days on six foreign trips, but didn’t take SPG cover. Why didn’t he take SPG cover? We want to know what Rahul Gandhi is trying to hide by not taking SPG along on foreign tours when he is a SPG protectee,” Rajnath told the Lok Sabha.
This is not only a violation of the SPG Act, but also being negligent, he added.
The Home Minister — who oversees a department handling special protection for VIPs — was responding to Congress MPs’ protests in the Lower House over the attack on Rahul’s car during his Gujarat visit last week.
Mallikarjun Kharge, who is the Leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, had earlier accused the Centre and the Gujarat government of failing to provide adequate security to Rahul.
“When Kashmir faces stone throwers we assume it is the terrorists, but it raises a question. Where did terrorists come from in Gujarat? Are the BJP workers of Gujarat trying to become terrorists and take his life?” he asked.
Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan subsequently adjourned the proceedings for the day. Later, Rajnath also tweeted that two bullet resistant cars were provided to Rahul at Dhanera but the latter used a non-bullet resistant car.