New Delhi: As Congress began its protest against BJP-led Government of India this morning, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, and other members of the Congress party were detained by the Delhi police, reports said on Friday.
Rahul Gandhi kickstarted the Congress’s day-long protests against price rise, unemployment and GST rate hikes and equated the Modi government with a “dictatorship” that has “hijacked” all institutions of India’s democratic structure.
According to reports, several Congress MPs – including Gandhi and Shashi Tharoor – were detained as they were headed towards the Rashtrapati Bhavan to protest issues such as price rise, unemployment and GST rate hikes on essential items. The MPs were dressed in black as a symbol of their protest.
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who was also protesting outside the AICC headquarters on as part of the party’s nationwide stir against price rise, GST hike on essential items and unemployment, was detained by cops. A video showed how the senior Congress leader was lifted from her sit-in and dragged into the police vehicle.
Dressed in black, as several other party members were protesting including Priyanka, the Congress general secretary was subsequently put in a vehicle forcibly by police and taken away.
In a video from inside the police vehicle shared by the Congress party, Priyanka Gandhi said they think that by showing force they can silence us and force us into a compromise.
Why will we do that, she asked. “Their ministers cannot see the price rise, so we wanted to walk till prime minister’s House and show the high inflation, show the gas cylinder whose price is sky high,” she said.
“There is no inflation for Modi ji, he has given away the country’s wealth to 2-4 people….Two-four people have become very rich, but the common person is suffering. They have a lot of money, they can’t see price rise. Flour, rice, and cooking gas have all become expensive,” she alleged.
Earlier, addressing a press conference, Gandhi said that Congress was forced to adopt the agitational route as the government, despite consistent demands by opposition parties, has refused to discuss price rise, unemployment, GST or China’s alleged ingression into Indian territory in the Parliament.
He added that the opposition voices are being systematically targeted by the “BJP-RSS” system of governance that has placed its ideological supporters in democratic institutions like the judiciary, Election Commission, Central investigation agencies and the media.
As a result, opposition campaigns and voices on such pertinent issues of people have been rendered ineffective, he said.
Earlier this week, the ED conducted raids in 12 locations purportedly connected to the National Herald probe, including the Delhi offices of the newspaper. The Congress leaders have maintained that the ED has not found a shred of evidence against the Gandhis and that the probe is yet another way to restrain the Gandhis who have been “fearlessly raising their voice” against the Modi government’s alleged authoritarian practices.
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