Rahul, Priyanka Gandhi Detained, Congress Workers Puncture Bus
Rahul, Priyanka Gandhi Detained, Congress Workers Puncture Bus
M.U.H
07/10/202628
New Delhi: The key leaders of the INDIA Bloc -- including Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi -- have been detained as they led a massive protest over the voter list revision and demanded the dismissal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar for the second consecutive day, Congress sources have claimed. Other protesters who were at the site were not spared either. The police were seen pushing them into waiting buses and driving off.
Congress workers, however, punctured the tyres of one of the buses, the party said. Rahul Gandhi was later transferred to another bus and taken to a police station on Barakhamba road.
The Gandhis were taken into custody yesterday as well when they staged an impromptu sit-in demonstration at the Akashvani Bhavan when they were not allowed to go to the Election Commission headquarters.
Today, it was because they tried to hold a protest at the designated site, Jantar Mantar. The police contended that they did not seek prior approval. The MPs had headed for Jantar Mantar after a strategy lunch at a central Delhi restaurant. But they were stopped by the police. Initially, the leaders, including Rahul Gandhi were taken and made to sit in a bus. But as the police went to round up the others, the INDIA Bloc leaders got off and returned and sat down on the road. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi sat down on the road, declining police requests to move. Priyanka Gandhi lay down, daring anyone to move her. "This is how they treat MPs?This is unprecedented. We will not move from here," she said.
The siblings were finally dragged away by the police and shoved into the bus.
After a day of high drama, the Opposition INDIA bloc assembled at Sagar Ratna restaurant on Delhi's Janpath on the invitation of Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge to give shape to their next steps as part of efforts to up the ante over the "vote chori" issue and push for the demand for Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's resignation.
Alleging that democracy is being destroyed, Kharge said that the Opposition will take the issue of "vote chori" to the people.
Buses were parked outside the Sagar Ratna restaurant at Janpath and the MPs boarded them after the lunch and headed towards Jantar Mantar. The police had barricaded all routes towards Jantar Mantar. The buses carrying the Opposition MPs were stopped by the police on the way.
Delhi Police has said that prior permission is needed for holding any protest at Jantar Mantar. Applications seeking such permission are required to be submitted to the Deputy Commissioner of Police, New Delhi District, at least 10 days prior to the proposed event.
Rahul Gandhi also said that the Opposition MPs would protest at Jantar Mantar.
"As I said yesterday, approximately 300 MPs wanted to meet the Chief Election Commissioner, but they said that we could not hold a protest there. So, today, our plan is to go to the designated protest site, Jantar Mantar, and sit there together once again, and tell the country that, for us, Gyanesh Kumar is not the legitimate Election Commissioner of the country. Modi Ji, Amit Shah Ji, Mohan Bhagwat, and Gyanesh Kumar have destroyed the democracy of the country," Rahul Gandhi said after the lunch.
Making light of the FIR against him over the dharna on Tuesday, Gandhi said that he wants a 100 FIRs filed against him. "There are 45 FIRs against me. My goal is 100," he said.
Gandhi and his sister Priyanka Gandhi were booked on Wednesday for entering Akashvani Bhavan without permission and staging a six-hour-long sit-in protest on the premises on Tuesday.
The lunch meeting came a day after Rahul Gandhi took centre stage at the Opposition's street protest, forcing a total lockdown of Parliament Street as he led an over eight-hour sit-in that ended with his forcible detention after Opposition MPs were stopped from marching towards the Election Commission's office nearby.
The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and others were released after 10 pm after about two hours in detention. While most Opposition MPs were detained and prevented from moving forward, Rahul Gandhi along with other Congress MPs, including Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, entered the Akashvani Bhawan premises, barely 200 metres from the EC office, insisting that they be allowed to meet the Election Commissioners. Their sit-in, which began around noon, ended after 8 pm, when a large number of police personnel forcibly removed Gandhi from the premises and pushed him and others into police vans and buses, as the MPs resisted.
As the INDIA bloc MPs started arriving at the central Delhi restaurant, massive security deployment was seen at the Election Commission. All major routes leading to the Election Commission were closed in anticipation of the ongoing protest by the Opposition. Security was also increased at Akashvani Bhawan, where Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and a host of Opposition MPs sat on a dharna after being stopped from marching to the poll panel office.
Reacting to the FIRs against Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi, Congress MPs said that they are not scared.
"We don't care about the FIRs against Gandhi. There are hundreds lodged everywhere in the country," said Congress Organisation Secretary K C Venugopal, who was at the dharna with the Gandhis.
"We are here for lunch, protests will continue. We strongly condemn how the LoP was dragged like a criminal. We don't worry about any FIR," said Congress MP Jothimani.
