MP office belongs to Wayanad people, 'SFI kids' acted irresponsibly: Rahul Gandhi

Wayanad: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday termed the recent vandalism of his MP office in Wayanad by the activists of the Students Federation of India (SFI), the students' wing of the ruling CPM, an irresponsible act. The former Congress president made it clear that violence never resolves problems and he does not harbour any anger or hostility towards them.

Gandhi made the remark after visiting the office during his constituency visit. He reached the office along with other senior Congress leaders and took stock of the damage. The SFI activists had barged into his office and placed a plantain on Gandhi's chair as a mark of protest. Gandhi on Friday removed the plantain from the chair. Later, he told reporters that it is the office of the people of Wayanad and what had been done by the Left students' cadre was "quite an unfortunate thing."

“Everywhere in the country, you see the idea that violence will resolve problems. And, violence never resolves problems... It's not a good thing to do.. they acted in an irresponsible way. But, I don't have any anger or hostility towards them," he said.

Gandhi also called the SFI activists who indulged in violence as "kids".

Last week, a protest march of the SFI against Rahul Gandhi turned violent after a group of Left activists allegedly barged into his office here and vandalised it, prompting Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to strongly condemn the incident and warn of stern action against the culprits.

Strongly condemning "the act of violence" by SFI at its top leader's office at Kalpetta in Gandhi's Lok Sabha constituency Wayanad, the Congress staged a statewide protest, which turned violent in some regions. The SFI activists held a march to Gandhi's office alleging his inaction over the apex court mandate to create 1 km buffer zones around forests which is expected to adversely affect human settlements. 

(With inputs from PTI)