Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, against whom an FIR has been registered in Guwahati on the charge of instigating violence, will be arrested after the Lok Sabha elections, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Wednesday.
The Assam police suo motu registered the FIR against Gandhi and several other leaders for "wanton acts of violence" here during the party's 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra' on Tuesday.
The former Congress leader said the BJP-ruled Assam government could file "as many cases as it can", but he cannot be intimidated.
'We have filed an FIR. A Special Investigation Team will conduct the investigation and he (Gandhi) will be arrested after the Lok Sabha elections', Sarma said on the sidelines of a programme at Nazira in Sibsagar district.
The Lok Sabha elections are due within a few months in the country.
The FIR was filed against Congress leaders under IPC sections that deal with criminal conspiracy, unlawful assembly, rioting, assault or criminal force to deter public servants from discharging their duty, damaging public property and others.
Director general of police GP Singh said that the case has been transferred to the Assam CID for a thorough investigation through an SIT to be constituted by the aditional director general of police (CID).
Sarma had instructed the DGP to register a case against Gandhi for provoking the crowd to break barricades in an attempt to enter Guwahati city during the Yatra on Tuesday leading to a scuffle with the police.
Senior Congress leaders, including state party President Bhupen Bora and leader of opposition in the state assembly Debabrate Saikia, besides four police personnel, were injured in the melee.
The government said the Yatra participants were asked to take a highway to reach Kamrup (Rural) district and denied permission to enter the main thoroughfare of Guwahati as it would lead to traffic snarls.
On Monday, the administration had also stopped Gandhi from visiting the birthplace of Assamese icon Srimanta Sankardeva in Nagaon district while the Morigaon district authorities barred him from holding street corner meetings and padyatra.
The police had also registered an FIR suo motu in Jorhat Sadar police station on January 18, the first day of the Yatra in the state, for the alleged route deviation by the Congress.
Earlier in the day, Gandhi said at a public meeting that the BJP-ruled Assam government could file "as many cases as it can", but he cannot be intimidated.
"I don't know how Himanta Biswa Sarma got the idea that he can intimidate me by filing cases…. File 25 more cases. BJP-RSS can't intimidate me," he added.
The chief minister claimed that Gandhi does not love Assam but created a fuss to enter the birthplace of Vaishnav saint Srimanta Sankardeva to 'capture media attention'.
'If he has so much regard for Assam's icons, he should have visited legendary singer Bhupen Hazarika's memorial or the Kamakhya Temple in Guwahati and the holy Poa Mecca (a place of pilgrimage for Muslims) or Hayagriva Temple at Hajo where he addressed a press conference on Tuesday,' Sarma said.
He had halted for the night at Barpeta and could have visited the Sattra (Vaisnavite monastery) there where Sankardeva had stayed, he added.
'The Congress did not visit any of these places but wanted to engage in cheap politics. They should, however, remember that such tactics will take them nowhere in the long run', he said.
Asked about the Yatra not being allowed to enter Guwahati, Sarma shot back: 'How did they reach Barpeta from Nagaon.....by a rocket launcher? It is just that they were asked not to take a particular road but another. They indulged in violent behaviour attacking public servants who were on duty'.
In a post on X, Sarma ridiculed Gandhi saying he has 'set a new standard for being a 'Darpok' (coward)'.
'Interesting. After instigating Congress workers to orchestrate violence, Rahul Gandhi (who is on a Bus Yatra) quietly came out of his fancy bus and fled the city in a small car to Hajo, his next destination. Rahul has set a new standard for being a Darpok. Ha ha'.
In another post, he posted two photographs of the Yatra with Gandhi inside a bus, with the caption – “Hindu majority area (inside the vehicle)”. The other one was captioned “Muslim Majority area (atop the vehicle)”.
Sarma said he is happy about one thing -- mothers and sisters in Muslim majority areas did not join this Yatra.
