Congress launches ‘Satyagraha’ at Rajghat after Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification | Latest News India - Hindustan Times
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Congress launches ‘Satyagraha’ at Rajghat after Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification

BySaptarshi Das
Mar 26, 2023 02:51 PM IST

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi, calling him a coward and said her family has nurtured the democracy of this country with their blood

The Congress launched a day-long “Sankalp Satyagraha” in support of former party chief Rahul Gandhi at Rajghat in Delhi on Sunday amid the city police imposing Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) to prohibit gathering of more than five persons in the area.

Priyanka Gandhi invoked Lord Ram to counter the BJP’s ‘dynastic politics’ charges against her family. (HT Photo / Vipin Kumar)
Priyanka Gandhi invoked Lord Ram to counter the BJP’s ‘dynastic politics’ charges against her family. (HT Photo / Vipin Kumar)

Congress’ top brass including president Mallilarjun Kharge, general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra among other senior leaders like K C Venugopal, P Chidambaram, and Jairam Ramesh took part in the protest while a large number of party workers gathered outside the venue despite the police refusing to grant permission for the “satyagraha.”

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Priyanka Gandhi, while addressing the protest, tore into the Narendra Modi government at the Center. “The prime minister of this country is a coward. Yes, file a case against me and put me in jail too. He is a proud coward. Our country has the tradition of defeating a proud king,” she said.

Priyanka also slammed the BJP’s tactic of charging the Congress of “dynastic politics” and asked if the ruling party would say the same thing about Lord Ram, as he, too, came from a dynasty.

“You (BJP) talk about ‘Pariwarvaad’, I want to ask who was Lord Ram? Was he Pariwarvaadi, or were Pandavas Pariwarvaadi? Should we be ashamed because my family fought for the country? My family has nurtured the democracy of this country with their blood,” Priyanka said.

Congress member of Parliament (MP) Shashi Tharoor, who was also present at Rajghat today, said this Satyagraha was not just about the Congress or Rahul Gandhi, but about Indian democracy.

“Is it good for our democracy when the principal opposition leader is not allowed to raise his voice in Parliament where we have a PM who speaks to the world about India as the mother of democracy, is this good for our country?”, Tharoor said while addressing the media.

The “Sankalp Satyagraha” is being held after Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification from the Lok Sabha, a day after a court in Gujarat’s Surat convicted him in a 2019 defamation case. The disqualification will bar Gandhi, a four-time MP, from contesting polls for eight years unless a higher court stays his conviction.

The Congress is also holding similar day-long satyagraha in front of Gandhi statues or at their respective party headquarters in several other states like Maharashtra, Arunachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Telangana etc.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was soon to issue some critical remarks of this day-long protest held by the Congress.

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath while attacking the protest said, “One who condemns his country, walks on path of untruth, can’t do Satyagraha”

BJP spokespersons RP Singh and Sudhanshu Trivedi too hit out at the Congress after Jagdish Tytler joined the protest.

Calling Tytler ‘killer of Sikhs’ in a reference to him being an accused in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, Singh said that the satyagraha was a way to ‘re-establish’ the former Congress MP.

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