Tension prevailed at the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) office at Kalpetta on Saturday morning after a group of Congress workers staged a sit-in at the gate and attempted to barge into the office after climbing over the barricades placed there, leading to a scuffle with the police.
The Congress workers had taken out a march to the office around 11 a.m. in protest against the decision to disqualify Congress leader Rahul Gandhi from the Lok Sabha on Friday. The decision was taken after a lower court in Surat found him guilty in a criminal defamation case on Thursday.
The protesters burned in effigy Prime Minister Narendra Modi and raised slogans against him and Home Minister Amit Shah. Around 11.30 a.m., they blocked traffic on the Kozhikode-Kollegal National Highway-766. Tension was eased only after the police arrested and removed the workers. As many as 60 workers, including women, were arrested and later granted bail.
‘The real reason’
Inaugurating the march, Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee working president T. Siddique, MLA, said the face of a democratic country was changing rapidly under the reign of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Union government. “The major allegation of the BJP against Mr. Gandhi was that during his visit to the U.K. he had said that democracy in the country was facing challenges under the Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) rule,” Mr. Siddique said. Mr. Modi had now proved him right, he added.
The real reason for the disqualification was Mr. Gandhi had posed questions on the alleged nexus between Mr. Modi and business tycoon Gautam Adani both in Parliament and outside, he said.
N.D. Appachan, MLA and DCC president, presided over the function. Hundreds were stranded for more than an hour on the NH.
