Three Congress workers were on Friday suspended for threatening a vegetable vendor in Kerala’s Kollam as he refused to donate Rs 2,000 for the party’s Bharat Jodo Yatra.
The complaint against the three workers was filed by the vendor, identified as S Fawaz, in Kunnicode police station, ANI reported.
He alleged that the workers were enraged after he gave Rs 500 instead of Rs 2,000 that they had demanded.
“They damaged weighing machines and threw away vegetables,” Fawaz said. “They also used abusive language and attacked the staff.”
The three Congress workers have been booked under Indian Penal Code Sections 447 (trespassing), 427 (mischief causing damage) and 506 (criminal intimidation).
“They do not represent our ideology and such behaviour is inexcusable,” said Kerala Congress President K Sudhakaran in a tweet on Friday. “The party is crowdfunding small donations voluntarily unlike others who get corporate donations.”
The Congress’ Bharat Jodo Yatra is a 3,570-kilometre-long nationwide tour that will cover 12 states and two Union Territories in about five months.
The party has described the march as its biggest mass contact exercise since independence and a “turning point” in India’s political history ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in 2024. The march was launched from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu on September 8 and the workers are in Kerala presently.
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