The Congress held protests in Madhya Pradesh on Friday over the disqualification of its leader Rahul Gandhi as Lok Sabha MP, with state unit chief Kamal Nath asserting the step was taken as the Narendra Modi government was afraid of the former.
Rahul Gandhi, representing Wayanad parliamentary constituency in Kerala, was disqualified from the Lok Sabha after his conviction in a defamation case by a court in Surat in Gujarat on Thursday.
During the protest, Youth Congress workers stopped a train for sometime at Rani Kamlapati station here while shouting slogans against the Centre and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“The Narendra Modi government has crossed all limits of hatching conspiracies against Rahul Gandhi. The way he is disqualified from the Lok Sabha membership clearly reflects the Modi government is afraid of him. Instead of replying to the issues raised by him, the government is finding ways to keep him away from Parliament,” Nath said in a statement.
“Today is the most painful day for Indian democracy. But one should always remember that such conspiracies were earlier hatched against late Indira Gandhi too and she emerged stronger. The people of the country are standing more firmly than before with Rahul Gandhi and justice will be done,” Nath added.
Terming the disqualification move as an attack on democracy, former Leader of Opposition Ajay Singh said that BJP is afraid of Gandhi speaking the truth.
“The BJP is afraid of Rahul Gandhi’s questions and, therefore, indulged in keeping him away from the Lok Sabha. Whenever attempts to finish Congress were made, it emerged stronger like in 1980 when during Janata Party rule late Indira Gandhi’s membership too was snatched from her, but people then overwhelmingly supported her and sent her back to power,” Singh said.
Former minister Raja Pateria, who was recently jailed for making an alleged objectionable statement about PM Modi, said the timing of the disqualification will definitely attract the youth of the country towards the Congress in order to protect the Constitution.
“Today’s date should be noted as an undeclared emergency underway in the country for the last eight years (of NDA rule) has been turned into a formal one,” Pateria, who is out on bail in the case, remarked.
Meanwhile, agitating against the disqualification, MP Youth Congress workers led by state unit president Vikrant Bhuria stopped a train for sometime at the Rani Kamalapati Station here and raised slogans against the Modi government.
They climbed on the front portion of the locomotive and also squatted on the tracks in protest for some time.
As part of the protests, a ‘mashal juloos’ (torch procession) was also taken out in front of the Congress officer here, while in Indore, workers led by Deepak Joshi ‘Pintoo’ released black balloons at Gita Bhawan Square in front of the statue of Babasaheb Ambedkar. (PTI)
