Bhopal, June 8: Rahul Gandhi today travelled by plane, car and motorbike as well as on foot and argued with a police officer but was prevented by the Madhya Pradesh government from entering Mandsaur, where five farmers died in police firing on Tuesday.

By end of day, the focus of the BJP establishment, which has already changed its version and admitted the police and not troublemakers had shot the farmers, appeared to be on establishing that Rahul had broken traffic rules.

Rahul had been detained in Madhya Pradesh while trying to enter Mandsaur to meet the families of the dead farmers, who were agitating for higher prices and loan waivers.

He was freed three hours later, driven 10km to the Rajasthan border and allowed to meet the families, who too had been ferried there.

Former Mandsaur MP and Rahul aide Meenakshi Natrajan said the Congress vice-president had forced the local administration to buckle down by refusing to seek bail until he had been allowed to meet the victims' families.

The families had apparently gathered before the gates of the cement factory guesthouse in Neemuch where Rahul was detained.

For all his troubles, Rahul faces possible booking for an allegedly helmet-less motorbike ride earlier in the morning. Rajasthan police are examining whether he violated "traffic rules" while crossing over to Madhya Pradesh.

Rahul had flown to the Rajasthan city of Udaipur from Delhi on a chartered plane and tried entering Madhya Pradesh from Rajasthan's Chittorgarh district. With him were Congress colleagues Digvijaya Singh, Kamal Nath, Sachin Pilot and Janata Dal United leader Sharad Yadav.

As Madhya Pradesh police waited at the Nayagaon barrier on the border to stop him, Rahul had tricked them by hopping onto the pillion of a motorbike and then walking about 2km to enter Madhya Pradesh from another point, Jeeran. With him was Pilot.

Rahul's motorbike had three riders - only two are allowed - and none wore helmets.

"We will look into whether any traffic violation was committed," Chittorgarh deputy superintendent of police Gopi Chand said.

This isn't the first time Rahul has dodged the police to meet protesting farmers. Six years ago, he had been barred from Bhatta-Parsaul, a land protest hotspot near Noida in Uttar Pradesh, but entered the village riding pillion on the motorcycle of a Congress worker, Thakur Dhirendra Singh.

Shortly before his detention today, Rahul was seen furiously pushing a policeman as he tried to stop him.

"How can you stop me? Which law says it is illegal to stand in solidarity with farmers who were killed simply for what is their right?" he said.

He later told reporters: "If your ideology is not that of the RSS, you are not allowed to enter Madhya Pradesh. (Prime Minister Narendra) Modiji has waived the loans of big corporate houses but he has only bullets for the farmers."

Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan later tweeted a video message: "We have taken many steps for the benefit of farmers. Some anti-social elements want to disrupt peace in the state."

BJP spokesperson G.V.L. Narasimha Rao accused Rahul of "political tourism" and "playing politics in the name of farmers".

Congress insiders say that Rahul's commitment to the farmers' cause is absolute but the party's lack of a strong line of communication with the farming community has hindered his efforts.

Dhirendra, whose bike had carried Rahul into Bhatta-Parsaul in 2011, joined the BJP last year and is now MLA from Jewar, Uttar Pradesh.

Last December, Dhirendra had said: "Rahul helped us then, but forgot about us. Many of our villagers kept languishing in jail."

A similar foray 39 years ago by Rahul's late grandmother Indira Gandhi had been far more successful politically.

Indira was out of power in 1978 when a group of Dalits were killed at Belchi in Bihar. The former Prime Minister flew to Patna, motored into the countryside and then, because rains had made the roads impassable, reached Belchi on elephant back.

It was late at night and she shone a torch on her face so the villagers could recognise her. The next morning, a stark black-and-white picture of Indira entering Belchi, her strong profile silhouetted against the black night, was on all the front pages.

It gained Indira the image of a saviour in the eyes of millions of Dalits, helping her bounce back.

Some in the Congress believe that Rahul needs to understand the challenges farmers are facing and offer some exemplary solutions in Congress-ruled states such as Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh.

Rahul's venture today showed up the Madhya Pradesh Congress's weaknesses. More Congress politicians and supporters accompanied him from the Rajasthan side than from Madhya Pradesh.

The Madhya Pradesh Congress has hardly played a role in the farmers' agitation, with satraps like Kamal Nath, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Digvijaya restricting themselves to tweets and sound bytes.

Assembly polls are due in November 2018 but a divided Madhya Pradesh Congress has failed to corner Chouhan despite the corruption charges, farmer suicides and the atrocities on Dalits, women and tribal communities.