New Delhi: Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were forcibly removed on Wednesday by police and were detained after they along with other leaders staged a sit-in at the roundabout near Shangri-La hotel in central Delhi.
Gandhi and other MPs and leaders were headed in buses to the Jantar Mantar protest site after they were stopped by the police from proceeding further.
They staged the sit-in at the roundabout itself, with Priyanka Gandhi lying on the road along with other women leaders, while carrying a copy of the Constitution.
Security personnel gathered in large numbers at the site and they first forcibly removed Rahul Gandhi, and put him inside a police bus after carrying him on their shoulders.
Some of the Congress leaders including Amarinder Singh Raja Warring and Udai Bhanu Chib alighted atop the bus carrying Rahul Gandhi, while Mumtaz Patel sat on its bonnet.
A large posse of women police personnel then started removing Priyanka Gandhi and other women who were lying on the road. They were forcibly removed and put into buses and were taken away from the site.
“This is how they treat members of Parliament who are asking simply to meet the election commissioners. This is how they treat us. They are beating members of Parliament,” Priyanka Gandhi said.
“Their policemen have scratched me all over. They have thrown us to the ground and now we are not going to leave from here. Let them call their forces back. I will not move from here,” she added.
Opposition MPs earlier held a lunch meeting at a restaurant in central Delhi, from where they headed to the Jantar Mantar protest site in buses. Several other opposition MPs were also detained by the police.
Later, the Congress said, “The bus in which Rahul Gandhi ji was being taken was punctured by Congress’s Babbar lions near Agrasen ki Baoli.”
Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge shared pictures and the video of Rahul Gandhi’s detention and alleged that an “arrogant regime” cannot hold out for long.
“To save the Constitution and democracy, the Congress Party and the opposition are ready to take to the streets as many times as needed, face arrests, or endure legal cases.
“This alliance between the dictatorial Modi government and the Election Commission has already been exposed. It is time for resignations and action,” he said.
“An arrogant regime cannot hold out for long against the fervor of the people,” Kharge claimed in a post on X.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh shared pictures of the protest site and said, “disturbing visuals from Janpath where Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi and other INDIA leaders have been dragged away and arrested once again by the Delhi Police.”
“INDIA janbandhan leaders were simply attempting to reach Jantar Mantar to register their protest against the capture of the electoral system through the CEC. The brutal handling of elected representatives by the police shows the utter contempt of the poisonous pair of PM-HM for our Constitution and democracy.
“This is the reality of the ‘We Will Do It’ proclaimed by the ‘Slogan Sultan’ today,” Ramesh said in a post on X.
