The office of Rahul Gandhi, an MP, at Wayanad  came under attack from SFI activists on Friday, which resulted in Augustine Pulppalli, an office staff getting seriously injured. More than forty activists of the SFI, the student wing of the CPI-M gate-crashed into the office of the former chief of All India Congress Committee and vandalised the office properties. There were hardly five to six personnel who were present  in the office at the time and they were chased out by the SFI activists.

The attack was in protest against the alleged indifference of the MP to interfere in the Supreme Court verdict dated June 3 ordering every protected forest, national park and wildlife sanctuaries across the country should have a mandatory eco-sensitive zone of a minimum one km starting from their demarcated boundaries.

But the office of Rahul Gandhi had said that he had written letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan asking the duo to file appeal against the verdict. There is a widespread apprehension among the Christian and Muslim communities in the State that the apex court verdict would leave 1.5 lakh families living in these buffer zones stranded and without

homes.

The Kerala Catholic Bishop Council and various Islamist organisations had issued statements condemning the court order immediately after the supreme Court verdict. Most of the districts in the State observed hartals and bundhs against the Supreme Court verdict.

The attack on Rahul Gandhi’s office resulted in Congress workers coming out condemning the incident. K C Venugopal, AICC General Secretary, lambasted the CPI-M led Kerala Government for the attack on Gandhi’s office.

“The Narendra Modi Government is after the blood of our young leader Rahul Gandhi and has been tormenting him by unleashing the Enforcement Directorate against him.

The Pinarayi Vijayan Government is aiding and abetting the Modi Government by vandalising Rahul Gandhi’s office. There is a secret deal between the Congress and the CPI-M to target Rahul Gandhi who is the most popular leader in the country,” said

Venugopal.

N D Appachan, president, Wayanad District Congress Committee, alleged that the SFI attack was a pre-planned action and the police extended all support to the SFI activists. P Gagarin, secretary, Wayanad CPI(M) said that he was in the dark about the march to the MP’s office.

Many young girls belonging to the SFI were seen gesticulating at police and questioning the deployment of large police force in front of the office of Rahul Gandhi.

At the time of going to Press, hundreds of Congress workers were staging a sit-in demonstration in front of the office of the Superintendent of Police demanding the arrest of the SFI activists.