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‘How can I do the yatra in a bulletproof vehicle?’: Rahul Gandhi reacts to protocol violation charge

Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said that BJP leaders too had violated protocol but they have never received a letter from the security agencies.

Rahul Gandhi addressing a gathering at Red Fort during the Bharat Jodo Yatra. (Express photo by Gajendra Yadav)
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Breaking his silence on the controversy over his security detail days after sources in the CRPF claimed that he had violated protocol 113 times over the last two years, senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said on Saturday that BJP leaders too had violated protocol but have never received a letter from the security agencies.

He said the government wants him to undertake the Bharat Jodo Yatra in a bulletproof vehicle, which is not acceptable to him.

Gandhi’s comments came days after sources in the CRPF while responding to the Congress’s allegations on his security, said that it had made complete security arrangements for the Bharat Jodo Yatra’s Delhi leg and that Gandhi himself had violated protocol 113 times over the last two years.

“I am undertaking a Bharat Jodo Yatra. The government wants me to do the yatra in a bulletproof vehicle. They are saying there is a protocol…don’t hassle us…you sit on a bulletproof vehicle and do the yatra from Kanyakumari to Kashmir. Now that is not acceptable to me. You tell me how I can do the yatra sitting in a bulletproof vehicle,” he said addressing a press conference here.

He argued that when senior BJP leaders “come out of bulletproof vehicles…no letter is sent to them.”

“Their leaders have done road shows, travelled in open jeeps…that is against their own protocol and they are writing to me saying you have got out of a bulletproof vehicle. So, the protocol is different for them and me. All the CRPF people, senior officers, know what they should do to ensure my security. How can I do the yatra in a bulletproof vehicle? We have to walk in the Bharat Jodo Yatra…so perhaps they are making a case that Rahul Gandhi is repeatedly breaking the security….,” he said.

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