Day of detention ends with Rahul, Priyanka release at night

Congress leaders, 250 others detained after being denied march to Nirvachan Sadan

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and other party leaders who were detained after an over eight-hour sit-in at Akashvani Bhawan in the national Capital were released by the Delhi Police around 10.20 pm, almost three hours after the protesting MPs were detained around 7.30 pm on Tuesday.

Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were among 250 people Delhi Police detained Tuesday evening after they stopped an over eight-hour sit-in protest inside the Akashvani Bhawan premises when they were stopped from marching towards the Nirvachan Sadan. Around 50 MPs were among the detainees, police sources said. The detainees were taken to New Police Lines at Kingsway Camp and then released late evening.

During his detention, Rahul took to social media to express his annoyance and stated: “To save the traitors of democracy, the remnants of democracy have been dragged through the mud. There will be a reckoning — not a single traitor will be spared”.

Police forcibly removed Rahul Gandhi, along with Congress MPs and leaders including KC Venugopal, Pawan Khera, K Suresh, Amarinder Singh, Raja Warring and Imran Pratapgarhi, as the Akashvani premises were cleared of protesting MPs. Rahul had earlier entered the Akashvani premises on Parliament Street and started a dharna after police thwarted an attempt by Opposition MPs to march towards the Election Commission office, located around 300 metres away.

The Opposition MPs were protesting over “vote chori” in the wake of reports alleging irregularities in the functioning of the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The sit-in continued for more than eight hours before police began clearing the premises and detaining protesters.

From climbing barricades to sitting in Akashvani Bhawan, the INDIA bloc protest led by Congress occupied the centre stage of the Opposition’s Street protest, forcing a total lockdown of Parliament Street and leading to a massive traffic jam in central parts of Delhi, as Rahul tried to march towards the Election Commission’s office nearby with hundreds of supporters and other Opposition MPs.

At one point, buoyed by onlookers’ cheers, he climbed atop multi-layer steel barricades, stood on them, and waved the Tricolour before slipping through the police cordons to sneak into the premises of All India Radio.

Until just before sunset, he remained holed up inside the AIR compound in a defiant standoff with the police, who largely remained passively resolute in preventing the protesters from reaching the Election Commission office.

The march from Parliament’s Makar Dwar had barely covered the short distance to Niti Aayog’s office on Parliament Street when the road ahead disappeared behind a wall of multi-layer steel barricades. Police personnel stood packed behind them, and the column of MPs walking toward Nirvachan Sadan, the Election Commission’s headquarters, stopped.

Rahul Gandhi was at the front. Within minutes, he had climbed onto the barricade itself, one of the metal structures lined end to end across the road, and stood on top of it waving the Tricolour above the heads of the crowd below. TMC’s Abhishek Banerjee climbed up alongside him.

When the march could go no further forward, it sat down instead in front of Akashwani Bhawan. Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, SP’s Akhilesh Yadav and a cluster of MPs lowered themselves onto the road surface in front of NITI Aayog. He began a dharna, cross-legged on the tarmac where, on an ordinary Tuesday, only traffic would move.

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was taken to a waiting detention bus shortly after the sit-in began around 12.15 pm, one of several buses parked along the cordon for this purpose. She did not stay inside it for long and alighted the bus.

With the direct route to Nirvachan Sadan sealed, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and a group of MPs, including Mahua Moitra and Abhishek Banerjee, turned toward the Akashvani Bhawan entrance and pushed against its gates.

Around 12.45 pm, party general secretary KC Venugopal and Rajya Sabha MP Pawan Khera reached the gate and sought entry. Deputy Commissioner of Police, New Delhi, Sachin Sharma arrived at the spot and began talks with the leaders, who eventually entered the premises.

Congress MPs Praniti Shinde, Deepender Hooda, and Charanjit Singh Channi, along with Seva Dal chief Srinivas BV, were also present. Gandhi’s staff members Alankar Sawai and Srivatsa were inside as well.

Several MPs, including Brittas, returned to the protest site after being released from detention. Leaders who had been taken away in buses were back as the gathering continued into the afternoon. In the afternoon, mats were laid out under the tree, and the leaders sat there. While Rahul Gandhi remained mostly seated, Priyanka Gandhi spoke with the police.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Sachin Sharma arrived at the spot with a large contingent of personnel, moving in to clear the compound of the protesting MPs. In the operation that followed, Rahul Gandhi was seen being dragged by police personnel as officers began removing those still sitting on the Akashvani Bhawan grounds.

Between waiting and sloganeering, the protest acquired an oddly domestic rhythm. The leaders snacked on rolls from the city’s well-known Khan Chacha, and when they needed a drink to wash it down, Rahul Gandhi reached not for a chilled can of an energy drink but for a bright red bottle of Sting.

Slogans rose and fell along the route and at the sit-in: “BJP hai, CEC hai,” “Vote chor, gaddi chhod,” and “Democracy not for sale,” chanted in bursts as the crowd pressed and receded against the barricade line.