Rahul Gandhi meets family of Pahalgam attack victim in Kanpur, plans to request 'Martyr' status for Shubham from PM Modi

Lucknow: Former Congress president and leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday met the family of Shubham Dwivedi in Kanpur, who was among the tourists killed by the terrorists last week.

Rahul, who spent around twenty minutes with the family at their residence in their ancestral village of Hathipur in Kanpur district, told Shubham's wife Eshanya that he too had lost his grandmother and father in terrorist attacks.

He said that he would write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to give martyr status to Shubham. Earlier, Eshanya had demanded martyr status for her husband. 

According to the reports, Eshanya narrated the circumstances in which her husband and other tourists were shot dead by the terrorists and said that there was no security at Pahalgam.

Eshanya's sister, who was with her there, told Rahul that she begged for help from the locals but none came forward.

Rahul also had Eshanya speak to his sister and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

Shubham Dwivedi, a Kanpur based businessman, was asked his name before being shot in the head from point blank range before his wife by the terrorists.

Shubham, who got married on February 12 this year, had gone to Kashmir with his wife and other family members. 

Rahul, who was a two-day visit to his Lok Sabha constituency of Raebareli, earlier attended meetings with the district officials and took stock of the developmental projects. He also visited Amethi and met local party leaders.

Earlier the police removed posters which contained alleged slogans against Rahul from different parts of Amethi.