Kerala: Three Congress workers were suspended in Kollam for forcing people to donate money to the Bharat Jodo Yatra. Videos of party workers threatening a vegetable owner and ransacking his shops for not contributing enough money surfaced.
The party workers were carrying posters of the Yatra. They allegedly threatened to kill the shop owner and attacked his staff, reported NDTV. One of them was seen throwing vegetables away.
The shop owner donated Rs 500 and the party workers demanded Rs 2,000. They threatened that no one will be left alive unless the amount demanded is given. The shop owner S Fawaz has filed a complaint with the Kunnicode police.
Congress suspended the workers involved and said that such behaviour is unacceptable. Kerala Congress President K Sudhakaran tweeted: "They do not represent our ideology, and such behaviour is inexcusable." He added that the party is crowdfunding small donations voluntarily unlike others who get corporate donations.
The group of five involved in the incident included Youth Congress state General Secretary H Aneesh Khan. The party's communications in-charge, Jairam Ramesh, called them "fringe elements".
He tweeted: "Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee has been doing crowdfunding for years. Their politics runs on small donations at the grassroots. But this should not have happened. These three were clearly fringe elements and exemplary action has been taken immediately by the PCC President."
Bharat Jodo Yatra will go through Kerala for the next 18 days and reach Karnataka on September 30. The 150-day long march will spend 21 days in Karnataka.