New Delhi: Is Delhi headed for another major showdown on Sunday?
The Delhi Police, while acknowledging that permission has been granted for the proposed ‘Chalo Dilli’ rally by the INDI bloc on November 1 at Ramlila Maidan, has said no approval had been given for the march from Connaught Place-Minto Road junction to the ground.
During an ‘Ask Me Anything’ session on Instagram on Friday, Congress MP and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, said that a march will begin at noon from the Minto Road-Connaught Place junction and culminate at the Ramlila Maidan, urging people to join.
The police had not been informed about the Minto Road-Connaught Place march, sources told CNN-News18.
“No permission has been sought and neither the New Delhi district police nor the Central district police have been informed about the march”, they said.
While officials denied having any official intimation about the march, they did not comment on whether the police will stop opposition leaders and others from participating in it.
Opposition parties and others have planned a mega rally at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan on Sunday, to demand the rollback of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar.
Meanwhile, the Chamber of Trade and Industry (CTI), on Saturday, wrote to the leaders of the INDI bloc, seeking the postponement of the November 1 rally at Ramlila Maidan. They fear that the proposed rally could result in severe business losses during the peak season of Diwali and Dhanteras.
The CTI, one of Delhi’s leading organisations representing traders and entrepreneurs, wrote to several leaders of the INDI bloc, including Akhilesh Yadav, Mamata Banerjee, Tejashwi Yadav and Uddhav Thackeray, requesting them to ensure that the rally is postponed until after Diwali, preferably after November 10-11.
Rahul, however, maintained that the rally would be organised as planned.
“All the opposition, everybody who wants to come: political, non-political, social, service people, civil society people, journalists. Both the programs are about the demolition of Indian democracy by Narendra Modi, by Amit Shah, by Gyanesh Kumar and his crew in the Election Commission”, Gandhi said at a press briefing.
He also accused Union Home Minister Amit Shah of attempting to bar people from entering the national capital.
“The Home Minister is trying his best to stop people from coming into Delhi, trying to ensure that our party members, common people who want to come from UP, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Telangana, Punjab, are being stopped. And they’re trying their best…” Gandhi said.