Instead of Bharat darshan, Rahul should visit Rajasthan, apologise to people for recent spate of crimes: Javadekar

In a veiled attack at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his recent visits to Uttar Pradesh's Hathras and Punjab, Union minister Prakash Javadekar on Friday said instead of doing "Bharat darshan", he should visit Rajasthan, where a temple priest who was burnt alive succumbed to his injuries on Thursday.

"Rajasthan's law and the order has gone for a toss. In Karauli, a priest was burnt alive by some goons who wanted to take possession of the land belonging to a temple. Some days back, some criminals, armed with AK-47 rifles, attacked a police station and took away an accomplice lodged there. Incidents of rape are being reported from several parts of the Rajasthan. The state government is not able to do anything," Javadekar told reporters here.

He advised Rahul to go to these districts in Rajasthan, "instead of doing Bharat darshan", and either work to fix this or take resignation from the state government. "He will not do anything but politics. He should take cognisance of these heinous crimes and apologise to Rajasthan for the failure of his party's government," he said.

The priest was allegedly burnt alive during a scuffle over encroachment of temple land at Bukna village in Karauli district.

Police have arrested the main accused, Kailash Meena, in connection with the incident.

The Congress party has been vocal about the Hathras incident in the BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh where a 19-year-old woman was fatally assaulted by four men on September 14. Soon after visiting the Hathras family, along with his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, last week he took out a three-day Kishan rally in Punjab against the recently enacted farm laws.

( With inputs from ANI )