Did Rahul Gandhi Push Pregnant Journalist? What Video Shows And What She Said

New Delhi:

A three-month pregnant journalist, who alleged Congress MP Rahul Gandhi had pushed her at the anti-ECI protest in Delhi yesterday, has in an exclusive interview with NDTV strongly criticised what she called was an attempt by the Congress leader's supporters to downplay the ordeal she faced.

She has been admitted to a Delhi hospital, where a few BJP leaders came to ask about her condition.

During her conversation with NDTV this morning, Richa Parashar of the news website Oneindia, who alleged the assault, was shown a video of the chaotic moment that unfolded on the Supreme Court premises.

"The Congress is doing shameful work by trying to pull me down. Shame on them. They cannot shut my mouth. They should come and see me, and provide assistance. No X-ray has been done," Parashar told NDTV.

However, the grainy and shaky video which showed Rahul Gandhi and Parashar in the crowd does not clearly establish that he had pushed or pulled her, the Congress has said.

Parashar told NDTV that was not the case. "It is so very clearly visible in the video," she said.

"Right after he pushed and yanked me, he struck my cameraperson hard. You must have seen it all clearly in the video. The person wearing the yellow cap is my cameraperson; he was shoved," she said.

"Rahul Gandhi's people started shouting 'Rahul Gandhi zindabad' so that my voice wouldn't be heard after he pushed me and I fell... Instead of asking how I was doing or offering assistance, like helping me with some water, they were confronting me, calling me a liar," Parashar said.

The journalist told NDTV she expected to get better in a day or two. Aside from some minor injuries, she has pain in her neck and foot, she said. "I'll be fine and I'm very strong and I will not shut my mouth."

Congress leader Alka Lamba in a post on X refuted the journalist's allegations, citing what she claimed were inconsistencies in the sequence of events, and called the BJP "shameless".

"Protest during pregnancy carries risk. They say Rahul Gandhi pushed her at 3-4 pm and then they say she went to hospital at 8.30 pm. Her sister reached the BJP MLA's office to manufacture propaganda. She underwent an X-ray which is usually not done during pregnancy," Lamba said in the post on X.

Referring to this comment, Parashar told NDTV that she got no X-ray done as claimed by Lamba.

"They (Congress) should come and see me and they should provide aid to me. The BJP people came to ask about me. No X-ray has been done because I revealed only yesterday that I am pregnant. Else my team could not have sent me to the field, although my doctor has said that I was fine, that I can do reporting, and that I can do whatever journalism work I am doing. I was doing it with the suggestions of my doctor," Parashar said.

Responding to her allegations, other Congress leaders and supporters shared videos of the moment Rahul Gandhi was surrounded by journalists and the chaos that followed. They pointed out that none of the visuals clearly showed the Congress leader had ever pushed the pregnant journalist.

Parashar, however, insisted there was indeed a video taken amid the chaos where it was clearly visible that Rahul Gandhi had pulled her hand.

"Rahul Gandhi grabbed me first... and since my cameraperson was recording, he immediately shoved him as well... I fell on my knees and stomach and my cameraperson fell on top of me. My phone is completely shattered now and my mic receiver got completely dislodged," the journalist said earlier from the hospital room.

She said her voice could be heard in the recording. "I spoke to him very politely, and I find it hard to believe - he is the Leader of the Opposition after all... when it happened I felt like I wouldn't be able to breathe anymore," Parashar said.

BJP spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari alleged that not a single Congress worker offered to help the pregnant journalist and instead they tried to "cast aspersions" on her.

READ | Pregnant Journalist Alleges Rahul Gandhi Pushed Her. Lies, Says Congress

After the day-long protest against the chief election commissioner led by the INDIA bloc ended yesterday evening, Rahul Gandhi thanked people who joined him and called the day "a powerful demonstration that the people of India will not be intimidated."

In parallel, the satirical political group Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) has been using guerilla tactics to hold sporadic protests amid tight security in the national capital where at least 20,000 paramilitary personnel have been deployed.

The INDIA bloc yesterday changed its protest strategy from only going after Gyanesh Singh to a wider "democratic protest" in order to draw supporters from across sections and different age groups.