A shoe was thrown at Rahul Gandhi on Monday during his roadshow in Uttar Pradesh Sitapur. The shoe missed the Congress leader narrowly but the attacker was arrested.

Mr Gandhi was riding in an open top vehicle on a prominent Sitapur, around 85 km from Lucknow, when a shoe came flying at him.

One of the most protected politicians in India, Mr Gandhi was seen briefly glancing at the shoe and then looking away after the object missed him. All through, he didn’t stop waving at the crowd.

Anoop Mishra, the shoe thrower, claims to be a journalist. “The Congress has left the country in the dumps in the past 60 years. I have been a journalist for two years and I know…What were they doing when they were in power?” he said while being led away in a police van.

The 45-year-old Congress vice president is on a month-long “kisan yatra”, his farmers’ outreach in the state where elections will be held early next year.

He has completed over 2,200 km and has around two more weeks to go, his aides say.