Any manifestation of politically-induced violence is to be condemned. There can, therefore, be no taking lightly the incident in floodhit Banaskantha in which a stone, or stones, were hurled at the vehicle in which Rahul Gandhi was travelling.

That no serious injuries were sustained by members of the Congress vice-president’s entourage, nor major damage caused to the cars in the cavalcade, is of little consequence. It is apparent that the security arrangements were inadequate.

A lapse rendered even more “heinous” by the fact that Gujarat has a BJP government, and tensions between the ruling party and the Congress are running high ahead of next week’s potboiler ~ elections from the state to the Rajya Sabha.

The local administration must be taken to task, heavily to task if the officials were kow-towing to the local political leadership: for the violence reflects poorly on the quality of governance in a state ruled by a hand-picked choice of the Prime Minister.

What must simultaneously draw some flak is the exaggerated accounts being projected by the Congress leadership, particularly its spokesmen in the national capital ~ have they never heard the story of the lad who cried “wolf”? Rahul did well to take the incident, black flags etc, in his stridea nd insist he would not buckle.

Alas, the Congress’ claim that the BJP manifested the “Godse culture” was so overthe- top that it added weight to the charge that the incident might have been stage-managed to provide yet another “photo-op” that Rahul relishes. Never mind: that is the way the political game is now being played. What probably matters more is what Rahul gained by a “quickie” visit to a stricken people?

He admitted that being out of power in both New Delhi and Gandhinagar limited his ability to provide succour, so maybe he would have done better to save that money expended on an aerial survey (what purpose they serve except publicity is open to question) and utilise it for a flood-relief purpose.

However, a virtually-alone Rahul looked more than a trifle silly visiting the affected area when some 40 local MLAs were being “entertained” in a resort far away to prevent them from being enticed away before the RS poll. Apart from their being “cloistered” serving as a sign of political insecurity, Rahul was denied an opportunity of projecting a party unitedly working for the relief of the flood-hit.

May be Ahmed Patel’s Rajya Sabha bid would have been boosted had he and the MLAs been paraded along with Rahul. Nothing of the kind was in evidence, which could be interpreted as the upcoming poll having limited significance to the party.

Or, could it be that Patel intentionally stayed aloof aware that when electoral politics was at hand Rahul had the Midas Touch ~ in reverse.