Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, Image credit: PTI
Patiala (Punjab): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said it was Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's choice if he sees an "international conspiracy" in the Hathras incident but he personally sees it as a major tragedy.
"Yogi Adityanath is entitled to his opinion, he can imagine what he wants, but what I saw was a lovely girl brutalised and killed, and her family threatened and subjugated," said Rahul at a media conference here in response to a question.
Rahul said he saw a tragedy in the incident and Adityanath should also have had the decency to do so.
The Congress MP said he found it interesting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had not uttered a word about the incident, in which a girl was raped and murdered and her whole family was under attack by the administration.
On him and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra being pushed around and manhandled by the UP police on their way to Hathras, and FIRs being registered against a large number of Congress workers by the police, Rahul said what he and his party workers suffered was minor compared with what the victim's family was going through.
They are the ones who have really been pushed around, he said, adding that it was "no big deal" for him to be pushed around by the cops in UP.
His and his party's job was to protect the people of India, which is why he went to Hathras and had come to Punjab to stand with its farmers, said Rahul, adding that "in our fight against injustice we will take the lathis and pushes."
"Imagine your son or daughter being killed like this and your family being targeted for protesting and demanding justice, that is how I felt," he said, adding that he went there not just for the Hathras victim and her family but for the sake of lakhs of Indian women who suffer, and thousands of women who are raped in the country every day.
Asked why he was not present in Parliament during voting on the farm Bills, Rahul said he was a son too, and had a son's duty towards his mother.
His mother had to go for medical check-up and since his sister could not go for some family reasons, it was his responsibility to do so, he added.