Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: A man was detained by Rajasthan police in Kota on Thursday after he allegedly uploaded a video threatening to shoot Congress MP and leader of opposition Rahul Gandhi and 25 other MPs of the party.According to police, the man, who identified himself in the video as Raj Singh is a spokesperson of the right-wing group Karni Sena and had issued the threats over a recent incident in the Lok Sabha.He alleged that BJP and Karni Sena workers were angered by what he described as verbal abuse directed at Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla by 25 Congress MPs during the recently concluded first part of the Budget session of Parliament, according to news agency PTI. In the purported video, Singh warned that if such an incident happened again, they would “enter the homes” of the MPs and vandalise them. He also directly threatened Gandhi, saying, “If such an incident occurs again, we will enter the homes of those MPs and vandalise them. I believe this incident occurred on Rahul Gandhi’s orders. Rahul Gandhi, listen carefully, if such an incident occurs again, we will barge into your home and shoot you,” Singh said in the video.He further said that if the 25 MPs were not arrested within 24 hours, “we will shoot them all one by one.”“If those MPs are arrested within 24 hours, it is fine. Otherwise, we will shoot them all one by one,” he said.After the video surfaced on social media, police in Kota took action and detained the accused. Superintendent of Police, Kota, Tejaswani Gautam, told news agency PTI that the man has been detained at the Borkheda police station and is being questioned in connection with the video.The video reportedly shows a photograph of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Speaker Om Birla shaking hands displayed on the wall behind the accused.Both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Karni Sena have denied any association with the individual. BJP Kota city president Rakesh Jain said that the party has no connection with the person seen in the viral video. “I want to clarify that the person seen in the viral video has no connection with the BJP. The BJP is a disciplined party committed to nation-building. This type of language and conduct are completely contrary to our ideology and moral values,” he said.A senior Karni Sena leader also stated that the accused does not have any link with the organisation. Police said that further investigation is underway.Reacting to the alleged death threat issued to Rahul Gandhi by Karni Sena, Congress MP KC Venugopal said, “See the atmosphere which is created by the BJP ecosystem and the Sangh parivar ecosystem. They are not even allowing Rahul Gandhi to speak in Parliament. They are not honouring the Leader of the Opposition… The Sangha Pariwar system is saying that they will go and kill Rahul Gandhi along with 25 MPs. No FIRs have been registered. This is a clear case of anarchy. We know how to protect our Leader of Opposition, we are not bothered about all these things. Rahul Gandhi also knows how to protect himself; he is not bothered about his life.”
