Patidar and Congress leader Hardik Patel was slapped by a man during a rally at Surendranagar in Gujarat on Friday. A man climbed onto the stage and slapped him. Reacting to this, the Patidar leader said that BJP was sending people to attack him. The police have begun investigation into the case. As soon as Hardik Patel started his speech at Baldana village under Wadhwan taluka, a man suddenly came on the stage and slapped him.
The man, who looked angry and was seen saying something to Hardik Patel after slapping him, was overpowered by Congress workers, who also beat him up and took him away from the venue. The man was identified as Tarun Gajjar and he said that he wanted to teach Patel a lesson. "My wife was pregnant when Patidar agitation happened, she was undergoing treatment at a hospital, I had faced problems then, I had decided then that I'll hit this man. I have to teach him a lesson anyhow," he said.
He also said that again during his rally in Ahmedabad, when he had gone to fetch medicines for hischild, everything was shut down. "He shuts down the roads, he shuts down Gujarat whenever he wants to, What is he? Gujarat's hitler?" Gajjar asked.
Gajjar was later taken to a hospital because of the injuries he sustained after being beaten by Congress workers.
On Thursday, Patel had to cancel his helicopter ride to Lunawada in the Mahisagar district of the state at the last moment after the farmer on whose field the chopper was to land did not give permission to use it as a helipad. Patel later travelled by road to the election rally.
Patel, who is all of 25, has emerged as the Congress' star campaigner in Gujarat after being denied persmission from the Supreme Court declined an urgent hearing of his plea seeking a suspension of his conviction in a 2015 Vispur rioting case. He had moved the top court in order to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The top court, while declining his petition, asked Patel why did he not come earlier. “You allowed the order to attain finality. We can't help you if you don't help yourself,†the Supreme Court said, adding "There is no urgency as he was convicted way back in 2015, says Supreme Court." He had joined the Congress on March 12. Polling for 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat will be held on April 23.
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