The Edakkara police station in Malappuram district of Kerala received a strange missing person complaint on Monday morning. The person claimed to be missing in the complaint is none other than the Wayanad MP and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. Edakkara is located in Nilambur, an Assembly segment that falls under the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency.
The ‘concerned’ complainant has been identified as Aji Thomas, state secretary of Yuva Morcha, the youth wing of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). According to the police, the complainant stated that he was anxious over reports on social media, which claimed that Rahul Gandhi has gone missing. He was even issued the receipt of the complaint.
The Congress party in Kerala, in turn, filed a complaint on Tuesday, at the same police station against Aji Thomas, stating that the complainant insulted the MP. The police booked Aji based on this complaint.
“Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi’s absence in his constituency (Wayanad) and the Parliament session that is in progress, draws attention. Several reports on social media platforms suggest that he is missing. Being a voter and a citizen in his constituency, I am extremely concerned about this,” read the complaint from Aji.
This comes after Congress MP, on Monday, raised concerns over the political turmoil in Maharashtra in Lok Sabha, after a long absence from the Parliamentary sessions. On October 30, Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala had said that Rahul Gandhi had gone on a “meditational visit” abroad. According to reports, the former Congress president stayed away from major decisions in the party, including the selection of candidates for the Assembly elections and bye-polls in many states.
Speaking to TNM, the Edakkara police said that they have booked Aji based on a complaint filed by the Congress party in Kerala on Tuesday.
“We booked him based on two aspects: The complaint is in a manner that insinuates that the MP is in hiding, and insults a political leader. Besides, the police, too, have been misled. The party used the police to propagate such false message,” a police official at the station said.
Aji has been booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code, including section 153 (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot), as well as Kerala Police Act, 2011.
Incidentally, in 2015, there was a similar "Rahul Gandhi missing" poster in Uttar Pradesh. The posters in Hindi, which were reportedly put up at police stations and railway stations, also read that whoever found Rahul Gandhi would be rewarded.
Even Union Minister and Amethi MP Smriti Irani had termed Rahul Gandhi a “missing candidate” during the 2019 Lok Sabha campaigns. “Until now, Rahul Gandhi had been a missing MP; now he has become a missing candidate as well,” Smriti Irani said, alluding to the miserable condition of Amethi and its people.