New Delhi: In a dramatic turn of events, opposition leaders, including Congress’s Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and Samajwadi Party’s (SP) Akhilesh Yadav, were forcibly removed by police on Tuesday after they staged a dharna outside Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s residence here, demanding his resignation.
The surprise sit-in in the high-security zone sent the government into a tizzy, prompting it to rush Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) Jitendra Singh, along with Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan, to persuade the opposition leaders to vacate the sensitive site.
Gandhi’s discussion with the minister lasted a few minutes, after which Singh and the home secretary left as the talks remained inconclusive.
Soon after Singh left the protest site, police forcibly removed and detained Gandhi and other leaders in the evening.
Congress leaders said Gandhi was taken to the Chhatrasal stadium in Model Town after his detention.
As police swooped down on the site, Gandhi, who is the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha, was seen lying on the ground and resisting as the security personnel tried to pick him up. The Congress leader was hurt in the process.
“Democracy in India is happening right now,” Gandhi told reporters as police tried to remove him from the site.
An aide of the former Congress chief told PTI that Gandhi suffered an injury below the eye, as well as minor injuries on his hands and legs.
Later, Gandhi shared pictures on X of police removing him from the protest site and said, “Modiji, try every pressure, exert all your might — this fight for justice for students will not stop now.”
There were dramatic scenes, with Priyanka Gandhi hanging on the door of the police bus even after it started moving.
“Leader of the Opposition Shri Rahul Gandhi has been forcibly removed. What kind of democracy is this?” Kharge said in a post on X.
He claimed that the “tyrannical” government is “trembling in fear”.
“The second name of dictatorship is Amit-shahi,” Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X.
Congress leader Pawan Khera said police have “brutally” taken away his party colleagues, but they will continue demanding the resignation of Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
Singh told Gandhi that the Centre is ready to discuss the issue of NEET and other related matters in Parliament and he should thus end his stir, but the Congress leader was unrelenting and continued with his protest, with several of his party colleagues raising slogans demanding Modi’s resignation.
Singh later accused Gandhi of “backtracking” from his earlier demand for a debate and said the Congress leader is now demanding Pradhan’s resignation.
The minister said this does not befit a leader of Gandhi’s stature. “A senior leader like Rahul Gandhi going back on his word is unfortunate and contrary to every norm of democracy,” he said in a post on X.
“The government is ready to discuss in Parliament all issues related to NEET and the associated movement…. Rahul Gandhi’s behaviour does not align with the principles of democracy,” Singh said.
Gandhi, along with other Congress leaders, including the chief ministers of Karnataka and Kerala and several MPs, launched the sit-in around 3:30 pm against Monday’s police action on protesting students.
The unprecedented scenes unfolded soon after Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi met the injured students at a hospital here.
Rahul Gandhi, along with Kharge, Priyanka Gandhi, Karnataka Chief Minister D K Shivakumar and Kerala Chief Minister V D Satheesan, raised slogans against Modi.
Yadav and NCP-SP leader Supriya Sule joined them later.
The protesting leaders symbolically tied their hands while agitating against alleged restrictions on people’s freedom imposed by the BJP-led Centre.
Gandhi earlier said an attack on students is an attack on every Indian family.
“PM Modi believes he can get away without answers, without consequences. He cannot. Not this time,” he said in a post on X.
Some of the MPs also accused the Delhi Police of using force against them in order to remove them from the protest site. Among others, former Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi, the Congress’s chief whip in the Lok Sabha K Suresh and MP Sukhjinder Randhawa were whisked away by police.
Kharge also left the site after a couple of hours.
The Congress president later said the arrogant rulers will have to bow down before the resounding voice of students. “Modi-Shah will have to take responsibility for the lathicharge and use of force,” Kharge said.
“When students took to the streets demanding justice, they unleashed lathicharge and rained down blows on them!
“They locked the gates of Parliament, imprisoned the MPs, refused to heed the united opposition’s call for a debate, did not dismiss Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Modiji remained silent on the atrocities against students, the Home Minister, who controls the Delhi Police, issued no statement despite our demands,” Kharge said in a post on X, adding that when they staged the sit-in, MPs were dragged away by force.
