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‘As if we're terrorists': Congress MP Adhir Chowdhury on row with Delhi Police
Many Congress leader were briefly detained this week amid protests against summons to Gandhis in the National Herald case.
Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury - who was at the centre of the row between the grand old party and the Delhi Police on Wednesday - said that cops behaved with him and other party colleagues as if they were "terrorists". In the heart of the national capital, scenes of confrontation emerged as the protest over the National Herald corruption case escalated on Wednesday. By afternoon, the Congress alleged that cops had stormed into the party headquarters in the city.
"Even at police stations, Delhi Police behaved with Congress MPs as if our MPs and workers are terrorists. Rahul Gandhi was called for three consecutive days for 10-12 hours long questioning. We do not object to it. We just want to say that do not use vendetta and violent politics," he added.
"When a family member goes somewhere, you go along to see them off. We also had gone to see him off. And we went by foot. Is this not allowed under law? What else did we do? But this dictator government has turned the capital city into a fortress. Even women party colleague MPs were targeted. Our Lok Sabha MP Jothimani was assaulted. They were not even given water. When she returned, she only kept crying."
Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury's remarks came after a team of Congress MPs met Lok Sabha speaker Om Prakash Birla. "We told the Speaker in detail, the manner in which we have been subjected to atrocities and violence. Speaker listened to us attentively. We spoke about Delhi Police officers who barged into the AICC office and attacked our MPs and workers in a pre-planned manner."
On Thursday, while Ajay Maken had tweeted videos of cops at Congress headquarters, many leaders, including P Chidambaram tweeted about Chowdhary too. "The roughing up of Mr Adhir Ranjan Choudhary and others has been captured on video. Every legal norm and political norm in a democracy was violated. We condemn the action of the police in the strongest terms."
Meanwhile, Jothiman's video - where she is heard speaking about alleged harassment by the Delhi Police - has also been widely shared by leaders.
The Congress has also written to Rajya Sabha speaker and vice president Venkaiah Naidu, and has filed a complaint seeking action against Delhi Police officers.
