On a day when Prime Minister Narendra Modi is all set to address a rally in Ramlila Maidan on Sunday, the Congress will stage a silent protest (satyagrah dharna) at Rajghat against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC).
Sources in the Congress said that party president Sonia Gandhi along with Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and other senior leaders are likely to participate in the ‘satyagraha dharna’ till the evening.
Sources in the Congress said that the dharna is scheduled to be held from 2 pm to 8 pm. The decision to hold protest in the city was taken after Congress General Secretary (Organisation) K.C. Venugopal, party general secretaries Priyanka and Jyotiraditya Scindia among others met at the party headquarters on Saturday evening. The sources, however, said the party was yet to get permission for holding the protest at Rajghat — a memorial to Mahatma Gandhi.
Earlier in the day, Congress Core Group met at Sonia’s residence to discuss the ongoing protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act. During the meeting, the party leaders discussed the crackdown on the anti-CAA protesters across the country.
The meeting has been called a day after Sonia attacked the Narendra Modi-led NDA Government of ‘brutal repression’ against students, youth and citizens protesting against the Citizenship law. In a video message, Sonia said that the Congress expresses deep concern and anguish on the use of force against students and citizens of the country and stands in solidarity with them.
“In a democracy, people have the right to raise their voice against wrong decisions and policies of the government and register their concerns... The BJP Government has shown utter disregard for people’’s voices and chosen to use brute force to suppress dissent,” she said.
Earlier, Priyanka accused the BJP Government of using dictatorial measures to suppress the voice of people as she condemned arrest of students, intellectuals, journalists and social workers protesting against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and a possible NRC. The NRC and the new citizenship law were against the Constitution of India, she said in a statement.
The people of the country would not allow any such attack on the Constitution but the government was bent upon using force and violence against protesters, she added.
“Illegal arrests of students, intellectuals, social workers, lawyers and journalists in all parts of the country is reprehensible. No one knows where the police is taking the people after arresting them throughout the country, including the State of Uttar Pradesh,” she said.
Priyanka also appealed to the protesters to follow the “non-violence and truth as propagated by Mahatma Gandhi” to protect the Constitution.