Day 2: INDIA bloc steps up ‘Vote Chori’ protest
Rahul Gandhi released after brief police detention
Opposition MPs from the INDIA bloc decided to hold another sit-in protest at Jantar Mantar on Wednesday to raise the issue of ‘vote chori’ and seek the ouster of CEC Gyanesh Kumar, a day after their eight-hour dharna to press for a meeting with election commissioners.
The surprise announcement came after a solidarity lunch hosted by Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge. The members of Parliament soon after boarded buses, with some of them climbing the roof carrying the Tricolour, as the procession crawled from Janpath to Jantar Mantar, bringing the high security area to a halt for the second day.
The buses had barely cleared the roundabout near the Shangri-La hotel before they stopped. Ahead, where the road curves toward Jantar Mantar, police had closed the route. Inside the lead bus, Rahul Gandhi sat up front, with Mallikarjun Kharge beside him and Priyanka Gandhi seated behind. In the same bus, Derek O’Brien sat with KC Venugopal, with a T-shirt on O’Brien’s back carrying the letters “EC,” an acronym for a Hindi phrase meaning thief (EC — Ekdam Chor).
Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka Gandhi were forcibly removed by police and were detained after they, along with other leaders, staged a sit-in at the roundabout near the Shangri-La hotel in central Delhi.
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. Police said they detained nearly 250 people. Police released Rahul Gandhi from Barakhamba Road police station late in the evening.
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.
Outside, along the stretch between Le Meridien and the Shangri-La, young Congress and NSUI workers had gathered ahead of the convoy, raising slogans as the buses idled.
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra lay down on the tarmac, a copy of the Constitution in her hand. “This is how they treat MPs? This is unprecedented. We will not move from here,” she said.
A large contingent of security personnel closed in around the sit-in. Officers lifted Rahul Gandhi onto their shoulders and carried him toward a waiting police bus. As the forced removal continued, Congress leaders Amarinder Singh, Raja Warring, and Udai Bhanu Chib climbed onto the roof of the bus carrying Gandhi. Mumtaz Patel took a seat on its bonnet. Women police personnel moved in separately to lift Priyanka Gandhi and the other women lying on the road, carrying them into a different bus.
Congress workers punctured the tyres of the bus Rahul Gandhi had been placed in. They transferred him to another vehicle and drove him toward a police station on Barakhamba Road. Several other Opposition MPs were detained in the same sweep and driven away from the roundabout in separate buses.
The detentions came hours after the same group of leaders gathered for lunch at a restaurant on Janpath, on Kharge’s invitation, before boarding the buses that would take them to Jantar Mantar. Buses had been parked outside the restaurant, and the MPs filed into them once the meal ended, with police barricades already in place along every route leading toward the protest site.
Reacting to the fresh FIR registered over Tuesday’s sit-in, Rahul had told the media before boarding Wednesday’s buses, “I have 45 FIRs against me. My target is 100 FIRs against me. Every FIR against me is a medal for me.”
October 10 Protest: CJP, Student Groups Face Police Denial
New Delhi: The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) and left-oriented student organisations formally informed the Delhi Police of their proposed October 10 protest at Jantar Mantar, demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar.
CJP co-convenor Saurav Das submitted the letter at Parliament Street police station, saying the party had formally informed the police to avoid later disputes over whether authorities had been notified about the demonstration. He said the CJP would cooperate with the police during the protest and expected the police to do the same. However, police officials denied permission for the proposed protest on October 10.
At a joint press conference here on Wednesday, the CJP and student organisations called for a united mobilisation against Kumar ahead of their October 10 protest, saying the agitation will continue until the electoral system is overhauled. The group sought to put their campaign against the Election Commission of India (ECI) on a broader political footing, backing the opposition INDIA bloc MPs’ October 6 protest march and describing the confrontation as one between people defending democracy and the BJP.
Wednesday’s press conference brought together the CJP, the All India Students’ Association (AISA), the All India Students’ Federation (AISF) and the Students’ Federation of India (SFI). The Aam Aadmi Party’s student wing, Association of Students for Alternative Politics (ASAP), also participated.
