Stones, black flags won't deter us; will serve people: Rahul after car attack

Banaskantha: Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi visited flood-affected areas in Gujarat on Friday where he was also shown black flags by a group of protesters and his car was attacked allegedly by BJP "goons".

Banaskantha Superintendent of Police Neeraj Badgujar said a man threw stones at Gandhi's car, breaking its rear glass when he on his way from Lal Chowk to the helipad in Dhanera. Gandhi escaped unhurt, he added.

Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi accused the BJP "goons" of carrying out the "dastardly" attack.

"Slogans of Narendra Modi ji, black flags and stones will not discourage us...We will put in all our might into the service of people," Rahul tweeted after the attack.

Earlier, Rahul was heckled by protesters at an event. He left the stage in a huff after making a brief speech in Lal Chowk area of the town in Banaskantha district after protesters showed black flags to him.

Addressing the villagers and the media, Rahul Gandhi said that he was in Assam the other day, Rajasthan on Friday and now in Gujarat.

Amidst his speech, few people waved black flags to which he asked the guards to let them in, and saying, "I don't care."

"It's a difficult and grievous time for all of you and so I wanted to come among you all," he said addressing the crowd.

He added that many people lost their loved ones and homes due to floods and so he wanted to meet them to tell them that the Congress Party is standing with the people of Gujarat.

"It is not our government in Delhi or Gujarat, but we are standing here with you, I am standing here with you and we won't back down due to a few black flags," he said.

The Congress vice-president also visited Rajasthan flood affected areas on Friday morning and said that Chief Minister Vasundhra Raje-led Rajasthan Government is not taking adequate steps to provide relief to people of the state who have been affected by floods.

Gandhi, who was Jalore to take stock of the situation, said he received poor response from people of the state as no rehabilitation work is being done, while adding that his party is trying to facilitate masses to the maximum extent it can.

Thousands of people are still living in shelters in flooded areas. Since July 22, nearly 17 people have lost their lives in the state.

Most of the roads of Rajasthan's Sirohi, Pali and Jalore districts have been blocked and the traffic movement is badly affected due to the massive floods in the state.

Earlier on Thursday Rahul Gandhi visited flood affected areas at Lakhimpur in Assam and said that Congress Party will pick up the issue and discuss about the flood situation in the Parliament.

The Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) says that 11,93,458 people have in 1,795 villages of 24 districts have been affected by the floods.

As many as 79 people have lost their lives in the devastating floods, eight of them from Guwahati.

Assam has been dealing with heavy floods since mid-July.