Congress writes to home minister over 'death threat' to Rahul Gandhi

NEW DELHI: Congress general secretary K C Venugopal Sunday wrote to home minister Amit Shah drawing his attention to what he referred to as a "chilling and heinous" death threat issued to leader of opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi by Printu Mahadev - "a spokesperson of BJP" - during a televised debate. Venugopal demanded immediate, exemplary action by the state police, "so that justice is swift, visible and severe".

Venugopal said "as such, any failure by you to act swiftly, decisively and publicly will be judged as complicity - a de facto licence for the legitimisation of complicity and normalisation of violence against the leader of opposition in Lok Sabha and a grave breach of your oath as the Union home minister."

Venugopal claimed Mahadev is a spokesman for BJP and made the remarks against Gandhi during a televised debate on a Malayalam channel. "In a brazen act of incitement of violence, Mahadev openly declared 'Rahul Gandhi will be shot in the chest'," Venugopal said. "That such poisonous words are uttered by an official spokesperson of the governing party not only places the life of Rahul Gandhi in immediate danger, but also undermines the Constitution, rule of law and the basic security assurances owed to every citizen - let alone the leader of opposition," the Congress general secretary in-charge organisation said.

Venugopal said CRPF, entrusted with the security of Gandhi, has written multiple letters regarding threats to his safety. "Shockingly, one such letter addressed to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge was leaked to the media under mysterious circumstances, raising serious questions about the intention behind doing so," he said.