Congress MP Shashi Tharoor and several other party leaders were detained in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday while protesting against currency demonetisation. They were released later.
Tharoor said they were participating in a “peaceful dharna” when they were arrested outside the gates of the Reserve Bank of India in the State capital. “There was no breach of peace or violence by any protester. But we were arrested outside the RBI gate, taken to the police camp and released without charge,” Shashi Tharoor told the media.
Ramesh Chennithala, Opposition leader in the Kerala Assembly and former State Congress president, also courted arrest outside the Reserve Bank office in Thiruvananthapuram. The dharna was part of the protests the Congress staged against demonetization outside Central Government offices in Kerala as part of a nation-wide stir called by the AICC.
Hundreds of Congress workers from various parts of the capital district took out a march to the Reserve Bank office as part of the protest. Reports said that a scuffle broke out in front of the Central bank’s office when party workers tried to break the police barricade and enter the bank premises.
Former Chief Minister and veteran Congress leader Oommen Chandy inaugurated the agitation in front of the head post office in northern Kozhikode city while State Congress president VM Sudheeran led the protest in Thrissur.