Rahul Gandhi should apologise to Aditi restaurant

“The arbitrary closure of a popular Mumbai eatery in Parel, purportedly by a group of Congress youth workers, has generated massive outrage on social media but party workers are saying that they did nothing wrong. A report in the Mid Day newspaper said, “Around 30 to 35 workers of the Indian Youth Congress — which is chaired by party vice-president Rahul Gandhi — approached the restaurant, Aditi Pure Veg, around 3 pm. Led by Ganesh Kumar Yadav, city president of the party’s youth wing, and party MLA Kalidas Kolambkar, they approached the hotel and asked the owner to shut shop,” Firstpost reported on Tuesday. Details of why IYC workers descended on the restaurant can be found here . [caption id=“attachment_982147” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi. PTI[/caption] There have been suggestions that the Mumbai IYC workers claimed to have acted under instructions from party functionaries, it would seem most unlikely that anyone outside of Parel, let alone Mumbai, was aware of what led to the incident. Despite that, Rahul Gandhi should apologise to Aditi restaurant. As should leaders of all political parties when their party workers or cadres take the law into their own hands with impunity. They do so in a bid to prove that they are more loyal than the king and to gain attention from part bosses. As a result, we see any number of crimes, beginning from petty bullying to full-fledged riots and even murder, all created in the name of purportedly avenging a slight to the party. While it is impossible for politicians to apologise for serious infractions, such as the senior Congress leaders alleged involvement in the 1984 riots or the Gujarat BJP’s alleged involvement in the 2002 riots, it is easy for them to apologise for an Aditi-like misdemeanour. Such an apology would send out at least the following four signals: 1. That the party bosses did not sanction the act 2. That they do not support the act 3. That such acts would not help the culprits in their growth within the party 4. That they are concerned about citizens bullied by party workers and will not tolerate such acts. If Rahul Gandhi does apologise, he would immediately negate the attack by opposition politicians, including Narendra Modi, who have been quick to launch an attack of the high-handedness of the Congress workers. Even better would be this: that the next time something like this happens, an apology should come before it is demanded. Go on, Rahul Gandhi. Make a start. Say sorry – and you won’t regret it.