New Delhi, 08 October : After two days of marches, barricades, road blockades and detentions, the INDIA bloc mounted another show of strength in the national capital on Thursday, with Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and opposition lawmakers from the Congress-led INDIA opposition group took their protest to Rajghat in Delhi – to Mahatma Gandhi’s memorial – for day 3, round 3 of protests to demand Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation over alleged irregularities in the conduct of the Special Intensive Revision.
Opposition leaders left for Rajghat after a second consecutive lunch meeting hosted by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge. The Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also arrived at Moets in Connaught Place for the lunch meeting, held amid the ongoing protest against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
RJD’s Sudhar Singh, Samajwadi Party leader Rajiv Rai, TMC MPs and representatives of other INDIA bloc parties also joined the meeting.
The move came as the Opposition’s campaign against Kumar entered its third day, with the parties demanding his resignation over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls and their wider allegation of “vote theft”.
The lunch meeting concluded with INDIA bloc leaders boarding three buses for Gandhi Smarak at Rajghat, where they planned to hold a peaceful sit-in. Scores of Congress workers carrying flags walked with the buses.
Kharge, who hosted the lunch, said the MPs would gather at the memorial and sit in silence while praying for “wisdom” for the BJP government, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah.
Kharge said the Opposition wanted to highlight what it described as “vote theft”, rising inflation and the problems confronting the country’s youth. He said the leaders would continue their protest peacefully at Rajghat.
As the buses prepared to leave, Rahul, while talking to reporters, alleged that the Opposition was not being allowed to protest anywhere in Delhi. Referring to Wednesday’s confrontation, he said the MPs were stopped from reaching Jantar Mantar and alleged that they were assaulted.
Rahul alleged that Modi and Shah had “hijacked” the democratic process, while reiterating the Opposition’s demand for action over its allegations of vote theft.
The leaders left for Rajghat, where heavy security had been deployed ahead of their arrival.
The day also brought a significant development for the Opposition. President Droupadi Murmu is scheduled to meet a 10-member INDIA bloc delegation on Friday, after the alliance had sought an appointment for 15 leaders.
The Rashtrapati Bhavan has asked the Opposition to reduce the size of the delegation. The leaders expected to meet the President include Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, Akhilesh Yadav and Mamata Banerjee, among others.
Ahead of Thursday’s lunch, Congress general secretary K C Venugopal said the alliance had first written to the President on October 2 seeking a meeting.
“Subsequently, the Rashtrapati Bhavan office asked us to provide the names of the leaders who would attend. Accordingly, we sent another request on October 5, giving the names and seeking an appointment on October 7, 8 or 9. We had not received a response till then,” Venugopal said.
The President’s appointment now gives the Opposition another avenue to press its case after two days of a standoff with the Delhi Police.
Security has meanwhile been tightened across central Delhi. Delhi Police and Rapid Action Force personnel have been deployed in large numbers, with barricades placed at several points and areas cordoned off.
The fresh mobilisation came a day after Rahul, Priyanka, Kharge and several other Opposition leaders were detained when their buses were stopped short of Jantar Mantar.
On Wednesday, three buses carrying Opposition MPs from a lunch meeting were stopped near Ashoka Road, close to the Shangri-La hotel. The leaders then got off the buses and staged a sit-in on the road.
Rahul was forcibly removed and taken away in a police bus. Priyanka, along with other women leaders, lay on the road holding the Constitution before being removed by women police personnel.
Rahul was taken to Barakhamba police station, while Priyanka and several other leaders were taken to Chhatrasal Stadium. They were later released.
The confrontation followed Tuesday’s march from Parliament towards the Election Commission headquarters, when Opposition MPs were stopped by police and several leaders were detained after a prolonged sit-in at Akashvani Bhawan.
The Delhi Police has now registered another FIR against Rahul and Priyanka in connection with Wednesday’s protest, alleging assault on police personnel and obstruction of government work. Several other Congress leaders and workers have also been named.
Police said the allegations and the role of those involved were being examined. As many as 91 people, including MPs and other leaders, were detained during Wednesday’s demonstration.
The latest political mobilisation has also spilled beyond Delhi. In Patna, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav led an INDIA bloc march towards Raj Bhavan as part of the statewide agitation against Kumar.
In Jammu, Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders and workers demonstrated against the CEC and the BJP.
Congress, NCP and Left leaders and workers held a joint demonstration in Nagpur, also demanding Kumar’s resignation.
In Hyderabad, Telangana Congress organised a “Chalo Lok Bhavan” march from the Indira Gandhi statue to Raj Bhavan in Somajiguda.
The third day of the agitation also began amid a political confrontation outside the Connaught Place lunch venue, where BJP and Congress supporters reportedly clashed.
A man who identified himself as a BJP supporter and admirer of PM Modi alleged that Congress workers assaulted him after he raised pro-BJP slogans. The man, who said he was from Srinagar, claimed he had not made any remarks against Rahul Gandhi.
Meanwhile, the ruling party and its government is leaving nothing to chance to snatch away the lead taken by the opposition to change the current pro-democracy narrative in its favour as 42 judges from the High Courts and the Supreme Court today expressed grave concern over a sustained campaign to undermine the poll panel, judiciary and other constitutional institutions.
In a strongly worded open letter, imminent signatories, having a pro-establishment leaning, have questioned the Opposition’s allegations of “vote theft”, warning that repeatedly branding constitutional authorities as “thieves” and “compromised” risks eroding public trust in democracy.
Sources said that the idea to get such a letter issued by jurists came from the Union Home Ministry as it would help to counter the prevailing narrative that EC and SIR have is anti-democratic and anti-constitutional.
“Criticism of institutions is a democratic right. Denigration is not,” the letter, signed by former Supreme Court Judges Hemant Gupta and Pankaj Mittal, among others said.
The letter came on a day when BJP national president Nitin Nabin slammed Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, over protests against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, saying that if the Opposition has any courage, it should resign from the seats it won through elections conducted by the Election Commission of India.
Speaking to reporters, Nitin Nabin said, “I would say these are people with an anarchist mindset, who know only how to spread poison in society. After all, this very Election Commission conducted the elections in Kerala.”
“It also conducted the elections in Tamil Nadu, where they came to power. If he has the courage, Rahul Gandhi should first resign. The public is fully watching the game he is playing. This Leader of the Opposition is engaged in shielding infiltrators,” he said.
“They are trying to take away the rights of the people. We are trying to give them their rights back. I believe that people who belong here have the right to the country’s resources,” he added.
Veteran Journalist and Political Commentator
