A blow-by-blow account of the attack on Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi’s office

In what can be described as a shocking move, the members of the Student Federation of India, the youth organisation of CPI(M), attacked the offices of Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi, on June 24, 2022, in the afternoon approximately between 3 pm and 4.30 pm.

Around 3 pm, a group SFI activists gathered in front of the MP’s office, which is located in Gautam Tower in Kalpetta’s Kainatty. The same building houses two medical scanning centres and a hospital; the gathering happened in the parking space usually meant for ambulances.

As the SFI hooligans were protesting, another group of around 50 SFI vandals ransacked Rahul Gandhi’s office, on the first floor of the building. The vandals opened the back window of the office, which allowed other SFI members to enter and move freely.

The group attacked and manhandled the MP’s staff, ransacked the office, causing general mayhem and significant property damage. For almost an hour, more than one group took turns vandalising the office and returning to protest outside the building.

During the entire episode, police officials including the Deputy SP were seen standing in the front around the SFI members doing nothing to prevent the vandalism. From a video of the event, it almost appears as if the state police were guarding the SFI members rather than ensuring law and order was maintained. The state police in Kerala reports to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who heads the home department. The police watched the SFI workers move in and out of RG’s office through the back window but refused to take any action.

One of the MP’s staff Augustin who was beaten up had breathing difficulties and chest pain, yet the police refused to act. Despite many requests to the police for medical help, the police remained unresponsive.

In the meantime, Congress workers in the area heard of the attack and reached Rahul Gandhi’s office. When they reached the parking lot in front the building, there was a heated argument between the Congress members and the police because the Congress workers asked the police to stop the attack on the office. The police instead lathicharged the Congress workers.

At least four of the Congress workers who were lathicharged have been grievously injured and hospitalised at WIMS in Wayanad and Kalpetta General Hospital. Congress Kalpetta Mandalam president Gireesh has multiple fractures in his arm, Binshad who was brutally beaten up has a shoulder fracture, Dinto Jose suffered a skull fracture and the former Kalpetta Mandalam president Rajendran has a knee injury.

Further updates on the investigation are awaited. National Herald tried to contact Wayanad SP Arvind Sukumar for comment on the incident and for an update on the investigation, but received no reply.