New Delhi: New Delhi: Opposition parties, led by Congress, staged a protest march from Parliament House towards Rashtrapati Bhavan carrying a huge banner proclaiming ‘Democracy in Danger’.
The protest followed senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification from Lok Sabha, a day after he was convicted by a Surat court in a 2019 criminal defamation case.
VIDEO | “Democracy in Danger” banner at the protests by Congress and Opposition parties at Vijay Chowk in Delhi. pic.twitter.com/0yRH4oVgHe
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) March 24, 2023
As the Opposition leaders approached Rashtrapati Bhavan amid extremely tight security, over 30 MPs were detained, reported PTI.
Among the leaders detained were KC Venugopal, Adhir Chowdhury, K Suresh, Manickam Tagore, Imran Pratapgarhi and Mohammed Javed.
“Over 30 MPs from Opposition parties had to be detained for violation of Section 144 (prohibitory orders),” a senior Delhi Police officer said.
They were taken to a nearby police station.
Addressing the media at Vijay Chowk earlier, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and others raised the issue of Rahul’s conviction in a 2019 criminal defamation case by a Surat court and alleged that the government was targeting the opposition with cases to suppress their voices.
Alleging that democracy is in danger, they reiterated their demand on a JPC probe into the Adani issue.
Leaders held placards which had ‘We demand JPC’ and ‘Save LIC’ written on them.
“We’re fighting for JPC into the Adani issue for months. They have a majority but the BJP is scared as there’s something fishy. We’ll keep fighting unitedly for it,” Kharge said.
There were protests by Congress leaders and workers in other states as well.
