New Delhi: Walking in the blistering summer heat and raising slogans of solidarity with Rahul Gandhi, Congress members defied police restrictions as they joined their party leader when he headed to the Enforcement Directorate office for questioning in the National Herald case on Monday.
Several workers were detained in the morning when they were on their way to join the ‘Satyagraha march’ called by the opposition party, but scores of others gathered at the party headquarters here by 9 am, holding the national and party flags.
Slogans of ‘Inquilab Zindabad’ and ‘Rahul tum sangharsh karo hum tumhare saath hain (Rahul you fight, we are with you)’ rent the air as Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and other prominent leaders of the Congress reached the party office.
The protesters waved placards that read: ‘Satyamev Jayate’ (Truth Alone Triumphs) and “Will not fear, will not bow, will fight for truth anyhow’, as the procession comprising senior leaders, party functionaries and grassroots-level workers moved from the AICC headquarters towards the ED office nearly two kilometres away.
A worker was seen walking barefoot as his slippers broke. “Blisters have appeared on my feet. But the march must continue as Rahul Gandhi is our favourite leader,” he said.
A small cage that had a poster with ED and CBI written on it was put at the party office in a symbolic protest by the party which has accused the Centre of misusing agencies to target opponents.
“We have tried to show that the ED and CBI are inside BJP’s cage. The agencies are no longer autonomous. They have become parrots of BJP,” said a worker.
The Congress, which has claimed that the charges against its leaders in the case are baseless and has accused the Modi government of political vendetta, dubbed the march as a start of Mahatma Gandhi’s ‘Satyagraha’ (peaceful resistance).
