A day after several Congress leaders, including party vice president Rahul Gandhi, were detained for attempting to meet the family members of OROP protester Subedar Ram Krishen Grewal, who committed suicide on Tuesday, former Union Minister and party's Chief Whip in the Lok Sabha Jyotiraditya Scindia, who was thrashed by the Delhi Police on Wednesday, made light of his own condition.
"It's not about me, whether I was manhandled or not by the Delhi Police; what is important is that the rights of a grieving family were trampled upon. People must be allowed to grieve, meet whoever they want and not be beaten up for doing so," Mr. Scindia told The Hindu.
"What is germane,"Mr Scindia said," is that a war veteran's family members were arrested by the police at a time of great sorrow and loss for them. They did not allow them to grieve. What is this but the murder of democracy?"
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"Rahul Gandhi went to condole with the family, so he was detained as well,"Mr Scindia continued, adding, " BJP leaders are allowed to condole, no one else. The Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister went to Ramkishanji's funeral to offer his condolences."
The young Congress leader also hit out at Union Minister General (retd.) VK Singh: " Look at the insensitivity, he displayed by saying that the Subedar who committed suicide was mentally unstable. Imagine what impact such a statement has on the jawans guarding our borders and on his family members, labelling him mentally unstable..".
" This is the true face of the BJP government. It will tell the people when to speak, what to wear, what to eat..." Mr Scindia said, asking ,"is this a democracy or a totalitarian government?"
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To a question on what the Congress planned to do next, Mr. Scindia said, " We will continue to raise issues linked to the demands of the armed forces. OROP has to be implemented fully, not piecemeal. The anomalies in the Seventh Pay Commission, parity beween the armed forces and civil service must be addressed. The government has messed up everything."
Mr Scindia said that after Mr Gandhi returned from the funeral of Subedar Grewal, the party would work out a plan of action on how to take all these issues forward.