Congress leaders and workers protest at Delhi's Rajghat
Congress workers across India today held a "Sankalp Satyagraha" in protest against the disqualification of Rahul Gandhi from the Lok Sabha. The police denied permission to the Congress to hold its protest at Rajghat in Delhi.
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The Congress put up a stage outside Mahatma Gandhi's memorial for its day-long protest programme after permission was denied to enter the area.
In her address, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi said a martyred Prime Minister's son, who walked thousands of kilometres for national unity, can never insult the country, referring to her brother Rahul Gandhi and her father Rajiv Gandhi, who was assassinated in 1991.
Congress workers in Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana and Gujarat took part in the protests.
In Gujarat, the police detained state Congress chief Jagdish Tahor, Leader of Opposition in the assembly Amit Chavda and party leader Bharatsinh Solanki, along with Congress workers when they came to Lal Darwaza in Ahmedabad to protest.
The Gujarat Congress leaders and workers were taken to a police stadium, where they continued to shout slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his party, BJP.
Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring alleged the action against Mr Gandhi came after his question in parliament on the Adani Group-Hindenburg Research row. A "tearing hurry" was shown by the Lok Sabha Secretariat in disqualifying Mr Gandhi at the behest of the BJP government, Mr Warring alleged.
In Congress-ruled Rajasthan, the party's state unit chief Govind Singh Dotasra, minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas and other leaders took part in the protest. "Rahul Gandhi is someone whose grandmother and father sacrificed their lives for the sake of the nation," Mr Dotasra said.
Haryana Congress chief Udai Bhan said Mr Gandhi has been raising his voice against the BJP-led centre on various issues. "They want to silence his voice, but they are mistaken," he said.
Mr Gandhi was convicted and sentenced to two years in jail in a criminal defamation case filed by a BJP leader in Gujarat - the home state of PM Modi - for asking if those who have Modi as surname were thieves. He has 30 days to file an appeal in a higher court.
The BJP has said it has got nothing to do with the defamation case and the law only took its due course. "Rahul Gandhi made very derogatory remark and disgraced an entire OBC (Other Backward Classes) Community. Shockingly, some Congress leaders are trying to defend it," BJP leader and Law Minister Kiren Rijiju said on Friday.
With inputs from PTI
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