Rahul, Priyanka, Shashi Tharoor detained as Delhi Police cracks down upon Congress protest march
Public Lokpal
August 05, 2022
Rahul, Priyanka, Shashi Tharoor detained as Delhi Police cracks down upon Congress protest march
New Delhi : Several Congress MPs including Rahul Gandhi and Shashi Tharoor, along with party leader Priyanka Gandhi, were detained by Delhi Police on Friday during a protest against the Central government on price rise and unemployment.
Priyanka staged a sit-in protest outside the AICC headquarters here on Friday as part of the party's nationwide stir.
Dressed in black, as several other party members did to register their protest against the government, Priyanka crossed the police barricades put up on the road outside the party headquarters and squatted on the road, with police personnel asking her to move from there as section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) is in force in the entire area of New Delhi district except Jantar Mantar.
The Congress general secretary was subsequently put in a vehicle forcibly by police and taken away.
Wearing black clothes, Congress MPs, led by party chief Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, staged a protest in the Parliament House complex on Friday as they marched towards the Rashtrapati Bhawan as part of their nationwide stir.
The protesting MPs of the opposition party raised slogans against the government demanding that the GST hike on essential items be withdrawn, with party chief Sonia Gandhi standing with the women MPs of the party holding a banner outside gate number 1 of Parliament.
The protesters were, however, stopped by the Delhi Police and not allowed to proceed towards the Rashtrapati Bhawan.
Sonia Gandhi did not take part in the march.
The other MPs were detained by police at Vijay Chowk.
Rahul Gandhi, senior party leaders K C Venugopal, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and Gaurav Gogoi were detained and taken away in a police bus from Vijay Chowk.
Speaking to the media at Vijay Chowk, Rahul Gandhi said, "We are here to raise the issue of price rise."
He also said "democracy is being murdered".
Asked if the MPs were manhandled, he answered in the affirmative.
"Our job is to resist these forces, our job is to ensure that democracy in India is protected, our job is to raise the issues of people. We are doing that," the former Congress chief said.
He alleged that some of the party MPs were even "beaten up" by police.