Delhi Police on Friday arrested Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka, Shashi Tharoor and several other senior leaders amid massive protests against unemployment, price rise, Agnipath Scheme and GST. Defying prohibitory orders and denial of permission by Delhi Police, the Congress leaders and workers held massive protests at the AICC headquarters at Akbar Road against the Centre, even as Delhi Police arrested over 300 leaders and workers, including 57 Congress MPs.
Women personnel of Delhi Police were seen shoving Priyanka into a car at the AICC headquarters.
Ahead of day’s protest, Rahul Gandhi addressed a press conference where he said, “We’re witnessing the death of democracy. What India has built brick by brick, starting almost a century ago, is being destroyed in front of your eyes. Anybody who stands against this idea of onset of dictatorship is viciously attacked, jailed, arrested and beaten up.”
As part of their strategy, the Congress leaders protested against the policies of the BJP-led government at the centre both in Parliament and outside it. The party had planned to hold protests at the AICC headquarters and gherao the PM house as well.
Earlier in the day, Congress MPs, led by interim president Sonia Gandhi and Rahul, sported black clothes in Parliament to mark their protest. Rajya Sabha proceedings were adjourned after Congress parliamentarians created a ruckus over the alleged misuse of probe agencies by the government.
Congress leaders, including Rahul, Priyanka and Shashi Tharoor, among several other senior leaders were detained while marching to Rashtrapati Bhavan to mark their protest against inflation, price rise, GST and unemployment on Friday. Congress MPs, including Mallikarjun Kharge, Jairam Ramesh and Ranjeet Ranjan, were also detained at Police Lines Kingsway Camp in Delhi.
The protests came two days after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) sealed the Young Indian office in the National Herald money laundering case.
While speaking to media persons at the party headquarters in Delhi, Rahul compared Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Hitler. He said, “Hitler had also won elections, he too used to win elections. How did he use to do it? He had control of all of Germany’s institutions. Give me the entire system, then I will show you how elections are won.”
The Congress MP from Wayanad also flayed Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, accusing her of little understanding of how economy works. “I think the macroeconomic fundamentals that she is talking about is something else. I don’t think the finance minister has any understanding of what is going on in the economy of India, zero understanding. She is there as a mouthpiece,” Rahul told the media before he joined MPs in a dharna outside Parliament.
After today’s successful protests by Congress party, political observers said that the way the party managed to rally its workers, legislators and parliamentarians, the party has succeeded in diverting the focus from ED targeting its leaders to issues of concern of common citizens. The party was, though, unrelenting in its protests against the Centre on misuse of central agencies against opposition leaders, the BJP had accused Congress of using protests to save the skin of its leaders.
Sources in the Congress said that the party changed its strategy and instead focussing its protests against ED action against its leaders, it decided to rally its workers and leaders around issues of unemployment, price rise, GST and Agnipath Scheme. While ramping up its protests against the Centre, it accused the government of using central agencies against opposition leaders to cover up its failure on these vital issues.
In order to make today’s protests a success, the Congress leadership had devised an elaborate plan of roping in support from nearby states of Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Workers and leaders from these states arrived in hundreds a day before the protests.