Union Minister Smriti Irani on Saturday slammed the Congress for doing ‘politics’ over the Hathras gangrape incident. Irani, without naming Rahul Gandhi, accused the former Congress president of politicising a sensitive issue.

“People are aware about Congress’ tactics… that is why they ensured a historic win for BJP in 2019 polls. People understand that their visit to Hathras is for their politics and not for justice to the victim,” Irani said during a press conference in response to a question over Rahul Gandhi’s scheduled visit to Hathras today.

Smriti Irani had defeated Rahul Gandhi from UP’s Amethi Lok Sabha seat in 2019 elections. Gandhi had represented the Nehru-Gandhi family pocket borough thrice in Lok Sabha. 

Earlier in the day, Rahul Gandhi said ‘no force in the world‘ can stop him from visiting the victim’s family. “No force in the world can stop me from visiting and sharing the pain of the family,” he tweeted in Hindi.

Rahul Gandhi will be attempting to visit Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras for the second time in as many days.

Both Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi had attempted to visit Hathras on Thursday, but their convoy was stopped at the Yamuna Express in Greater Noida. The top Congress leaders were also briefly detained following tussle with the cops. Rahul Gandhi was pushed to the ground during the scuffle with the incident being aired live on news channels.

“Why are you arresting me? What are the grounds for the arrest? What law am I violating,” the former Congress president was seen asking the police officials.