Rahul Gandhi visits unannounced, leaves villagers unimpressed in Pune

When the all-India Congress committee general secretary, Rahul Gandhi, made a surprise and unscheduled visit to the residence of Shayamrao Wagu Tupe, who was killed in the recent police firing on the Pune-Mumbai expressway, there was no one at home.

He then walked half-a-kilometre towards the Pavana river bank and joined his relatives and other villagers performing the 10th day ritual of the late farmer.

The young Gandhi stood silently as the shocked villagers continued with their rituals and then he spoke briefly. “Whatever happened was wrong,” was all he said.

On Thursday, Gandhi arrived silently in Pune by a chartered Sahara Airlines aircraft at 7.30 am and headed straight to the three villages in Pune district to condole the death of three farmers, who were killed in police firing during a protest rally on August 9.

 Such was the secrecy surrounding Gandhi’s visit that he was accompanied by just a handful of security guards and two local political activists. By 1.30 pm, Gandhi took the flight back to Delhi and life in the villages returned to dull routine.

Gandhi, who had rushed to Bhatta Parsaul near Noida to express empathy with the farmers there, had been criticised for not visiting the Maval villagers killed in the police firing under Congress rule.

Shayamrao Tupe’s relative, Anil Tupe, said that although many leaders — including chief minister Prithviraj Chavan — had visited them and made promises, the “allegations of ‘attempt to murder’ lodged by the police against agitating farmers have not been withdrawn”, he noted.

The Congress leader then visited the home of the late Moreshwar Sopan Sathe in Shivane village, across the river, where again, the family members were taken by surprise.

“He simply walked to the shed in front of the house and spoke to the family members, including the widow Ranjana, son Akshya, daughter Lalita and cousin Kisan.     

He was there for 10 minutes. Kisan showed him newspaper photographs of his brother being dragged away by the police and alleged that the police had killed him in an encounter. He demanded action against the guilty officers,” a villager said.

In Yelse village, where Gandhi went to console the family members of the late Kantabai Ankush Thakar, he had to walk in the mud for awhile as the path was impassable for vehicles.

He sat on the floor for 15 minutes and patiently heard Nitin, Kantabai’s son, about the incidents leading to her death.
“Rahul promised us that action would be taken against the guilty,” said Nitin.

At all the three places, Gandhi promised an inquiry into the incident and action against the guilty.

The villagers told Gandhi that they were angry with the behaviour of the police and wanted action to be taken against senior officials, including police superintendent Sandeep Karnik.

The villagers were, however, listless after the visit, which they said was rather late and of little consequence.