As the government-opposition stand-off continued, the Congress on Saturday announced it would gherao Parliament on May 6 to highlight a range of issues that include imposition of President’s Rule in Uttarakhand, drought and the campaign of “deceit and deliberate lies” against the party.
Congress spokesman Randeep Surjewala said the gherao would be the culmination of a “Save Democracy” march to be led by party president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi. Party seniors and workers would march from Jantar Mantar to Parliament.
Last year, the Congress first organised a march of opposition leaders to Rashtrapati Bhavan on the controversial Land Acquisition Bill that it had described as “anti-farmer and pro-corporate.” This was followed by a party rally at Ram Lilagrounds on April 19 that year to protest against the Bill.
Mr. Surjewala said the gherao was being undertaken in the wake of attempts by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government to “topple” duly elected governments as was witnessed in the “conspiracies” in Arunachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. He said the march would also highlight the drought and the agrarian crisis that had forced a spate of suicides by farmers and affected 40 crore people.
