Touching Constitution to forehead is pretense when your govts violating it: Rahul Gandhi's dig at PM Modi over UP encounter

New Delhi: Taking a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the police encounter of a man involved in robbery in Uttar Pradesh's Sultanpur, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha on Saturday said that touching the Constitution to the forehead in front of the cameras is just a pretense "when your governments are openly violating it".

Gandhi demanded that all suspicious encounters in Uttar Pradesh should be investigated impartially.

Mangesh Yadav, a wanted criminal involved in a robbery worth Rs 1.5 crore at a jewellery store in Sultanpur, was killed in an encounter with the police early Thursday, officials said. Yadav was carrying a reward of Rs 1 lakh on his arrest.

According to police, Yadav was killed in the encounter with the Special Task Force of the Uttar Pradesh Police in Mishirpur Puraini village.

In a post in Hindi on X, Gandhi alleged that in BJP-ruled states, the very people who are responsible for implementing the law and Constitution are violating them.

The encounter of Mangesh Yadav in Sultanpur has once again proved that the BJP does not believe in the rule of law, he said.

"The tears of Mangesh's family are asking the whole country a question - who will live and who will not, will the court or the police decide this?" the former Congress chief said.

"A professional force like the STF is being run like a 'criminal gang' under the BJP government and the silence of the Central government on this is their clear consent to this 'Thoko Niti'," Gandhi said.

Dozens of encounters of the UP STF are under question, he said.

"Has any action been taken against any of those officers till date? Who is protecting them and why?" he asked.

"Touching the Constitution to the forehead in front of the cameras is just a pretense when your governments are openly violating it," Gandhi said.

All the suspicious encounters in Uttar Pradesh should be investigated impartially and justice should be done, he said, adding that "blood stains on the uniform must be cleaned".

Days after the Lok Sabha election results were announced, a meeting of the newly elected MPs of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA alliance was held at Parliament to decide the leader of the coalition. Upon his arrival, Prime Minister Modi paid respect to the Constitution of India by touching the book to his forehead.