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Congress protest chokes New Delhi areas, 57 MPs detained
Meanwhile, in a video shared widely on social media, Youth Congress chief Srinivas BV was seen being manhandled by policemen outside the All India Congress Committee (AICC) office.
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Traffic was affected in parts of New Delhi area due to a protest by Congress members, party workers and supporters during the questioning of party chief Sonia Gandhi by the Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday, while several other parts of the national Capital were also affected due to the kanwar yatra.
Police, who had shared an advisory for commuters to avoid certain routes, barricaded many parts of New Delhi area, including Vijay Chowk, Janpath, Akbar Road and adjoining areas and deployed hundreds of personnel on these routes to maintain law and order as well as to ensure commuters were informed of diversions.
Earlier in the day, police detained Congress leader Rahul Gandhi from Rajpath while he sat on a protest with other Congress leaders, deputy commissioner of police (New Delhi) Amrutha Guguloth said. Those detained were taken to Kingsway Camp and were released around 6.30pm, she added.
Meanwhile, in a video shared widely on social media, Youth Congress chief Srinivas BV was seen being manhandled by policemen outside the All India Congress Committee (AICC) office.
Commenting on the matter, Guguloth said, “Trying to identify the staff. Disciplinary action will be initiated against the staff after we identify them.”
Congress leaders shared photos of the protest and the detained leaders inside the police bus. They also tweeted the hashtag #SatyagrahawithSoniaGandhi.
Delhi Police issued a statement on Tuesday evening clarifying that they had sent a letter to the AICC reminding them that large gatherings were not allowed in the New Delhi area because of the enforcement of Section 144.
The press statement issued by Sagar Preet Hooda, special commissioner of police (zone II), said police had gathered information from various sources about Congress workers/senior functionaries planning to gather in the New Delhi area on Tuesday to show solidarity with Sonia Gandhi, who was summoned by the Enforcement Directorate for a second round of questioning.
“About 11am, a large number of AICC workers started gathering at various locations ie Akbar Road, Man Singh Road, Vijay Chowk, Janpath and started protesting. Some honourable MPs of the party including Rahul Gandhi started a march of Parliament to Vijay Chowk with other supporters...The protesters were appropriately warned about the prohibitory orders in force in the area and repeatedly requested to disperse, but they continued the protest thereby violating prohibitory orders,” the statement said.
Police said 259 persons, including 57 members of Parliament, were detained. They said they are also probing an incident where a protester tried to set a motorcycle on fire near Claridges Hotel during the day. “Appropriate legal action is being taken in the matter,” Hooda said.
On Tuesday, commuters took to social media to share how they were delayed due to a traffic jam caused by the protesters.
Sakshi Jain, a commuter, tweeted that she was on her way to Connaught Place around 2pm and it took her about an hour to reach from ITO to Outer circle. “There is no traffic management,” she tweeted.
Meanwhile, devotees crossing Delhi on their way back to Uttar Pradesh and Haryana during kanwar yatra caused several snarls in the eastern parts of Delhi, including Apsara border, National Highway 24, Delhi-Meerut Expressway, Chilla border, Mayur Vihar, Anand Vihar, and Kalindi Kunj.
