A man, identified as Tarun Gajjar, who attacked Congress leader Hardik Patel has asked if the Patidar leader was "Gujarat's Hitler," in a bid to express his hatred towards him.
Gajjar had climbed up the stage, while the Congressman was addressing a gathering, and slapped him.
When asked about the reason of this unexpected assault, Gajjar said, "My wife was pregnant when the Patidar agitation happened. She was undergoing treatment at a hospital. I had faced problems then. I had decided then I'd hit this man. I had to teach him a lesson anyhow."
"Then again, during his rally in Ahmedabad when I had gone to get medicines for my child, everything was shut down. He shuts down the roads; he shuts down Gujarat whenever he wants to, What is he? Gujarat's Hitler?" he added.
Ouch!
Here’s what happened--
Congress leader Hardik Patel was slapped by Gajjar. An angry Patel blamed the BJP for the incident and said this was an attempt to kill him.
However, ruling party leaders said they had nothing to do with the incident, which they termed as a staged drama by the Congress to gain sympathy ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
Tarun Gajjar, a resident of Kadi town of Mehsana district, suffered injuries after he was thrashed by Congress workers, Patel supporters and others at the rally venue, around 130km from Ahmedabad.
He is currently undergoing treatment as he was badly thrashed by people at the rally, said police inspector of Wadhwan, HR Jethi.
Gajjar said he was not associated with any political party and slapped the Patidar quota leader due to personal reasons.
The incident was captured in cameras of news channels covering the event in the district.
Congress candidate for the Surendranagar Lok Sabha seat, Soma Patel, was present on the dais when Patel was slapped.
Gajjar also said he had tried to attack the 25-year-old politician, who joined the Congress last month, in the past too.
"I first planned to attack Hardik Patel during his rally in Kalol on April 13, but he did not come there. Then, I had planned to attack him at a rally in Balisana on April 17.
"But I failed at that time. Finally, I got success today. I am not against the Patidar community. I am against Hardik," he added.
