Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who is on a three-day visit to his constituency in Kerala's Wayanad, termed the recent vandalisation of his MP office in the district by activists of the Students Federation of India (SFI), the youth wing of the ruling CPI(M), an "unfortunate incident."
Gandhi, however, added that he did not hold any hostility or anger towards the activists.
Further, calling the SFI activists who caused the vandalism "kids," Gandhi said that they didn't understand the consequences of their act.
"Everywhere in the country, you see the idea that violence will resolve problems. But, 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, as per news agency PTI.
On Friday, he visited the vandalised office along with other senior Congress leaders and took stock of the damages.
Gandhi then held a meeting with party workers who were injured during the attack. He also removed a plantain tree placed on his office chair by the attackers before sitting on it. This was Gandhi's first visit to the office following the vandalism last week.
Background
Last week, the activists of the SFI reportedly vandalised Gandhi's office in Kalpetta in Wayanad.
This came after a protest march held by them against the alleged inaction by Gandhi in the issue of buffer zones around Wayanad forests, which is now raging in the hilly district. The SFI students allegedly smashed window panes and destroyed furniture.
Condemning the vandalism by SFI, the Congress too held protests across the state, which turned violent in some areas. The Congress alleged that the violence took place with the knowledge of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
Vijayan, however, retorted sharply, saying that everyone in the CPI(M) had condemned the attack and also made sure that the SFI workers were immediately arrested.
Meanwhile, tensions have escalated between the Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the Opposition Congress in Kerala as a crude bomb was hurled at the headquarters of the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) in Thiruvananthapuram on the night of Thursday, 30 June.
(With inputs from PTI.)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)