Congress president Rahul Gandhi courted arrest on Friday after leading a march to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) headquarters to voice protest against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for “forcing” CBI Director Alok Verma to go on ‘indefinite leave’.
Addressing Congress leaders and workers at the protest, Mr. Gandhi accused the Prime Minister of “attacking every institution in the country; be it the CBI, the Election Commission, State Assemblies or the Lok Sabha”.
Mr. Gandhi marched with the protesters for about a kilometre from the road outside Dayal Singh College before being stopped by a police cordon a short distance from the CBI entrance. After sitting on dharna for over an hour, Mr. Gandhi along with other Opposition leaders addressed Congress workers gathered at the place before courting arrest.
In a show of Opposition unity, leaders of other parties including Sharad Yadav of the Loktantrik Janata Dal, D, Raja of CPI and Trinamool Congress’s Nadimul Haque joined the protests.
“The Prime Minister can run away from the reality but he cannot hide the facts; the truth will speak for itself,” Mr. Gandhi told reporters at the Lodhi Colony police station, where he was taken. “Removing the CBI Director will make no difference. At the end of the day, the whole country will come to know that the chowkidar [watchman] of the country has transferred ₹30,000 crore business to Anil Ambani.”
The Congress chief has accused the BJP-led government of ‘removing’ Mr. Verma to avoid a probe into the Rafale deal.
‘Result of panic’
Asked for his reaction to the Supreme Court order, Mr. Gandhi said, “It is a Supreme Court judgment. That is a procedure that is carrying on. I do not want to comment on that, but, what I will say is that the Prime Minister acted against the Director of the CBI as a result of panic, as a result of fear.”
The Delhi Police said they had only detained Mr. Gandhi. “During the demonstration march, total 130 persons were detained and brought to Lodhi Colony police station along with Rahul Gandhi and leaders who participated in the march. All of them were released after 30 minutes,” said Vijay Kumar, Deputy Commissioner of Delhi Police (Southern Range).
Addressing party workers earlier, Mr. Gandhi said, “This is the CBI office and all of us are standing in front of it. There are people inside the building and the police personnel are also standing there outside. I want to tell them that we have no intention to attack the institutions. It is the Prime Minister who is constantly attacking the institutions.,” he said.
Several Congress leaders including Ashok Gehlot, Ahmed Patel, Anand Sharma, Randeep Surjewala, Jitin Prasada and Sushmita Dev accompanied Mr. Gandhi.
PTI adds:
Protests across the country
The Congress’ protests in the national capital were replicated in other parts of the country. State Congress leaders led demonstrations in their regions against what the Congress described as the "illegal, unconstitutional and illegitimate removal of the CBI director by the Modi-Shah duo".
Activists and leaders of Assam Pradesh Congress Committee submitted a memorandum submitted to President Ram Nath Kovind demanding Mr. Verma’s immediate reinstatement. Seeking Mr. Kovind’s intervention into the matter, the memorandum said, “The Modi-led NDA government has sent CBI director Alok Verma on leave to protect its handpicked officer Rakesh Asthana, against whom serious charges of corruption have been leveled.
“Such malafide action of the Modi government is an attempt to save the skin of BJP leaders, who are involved in the corruption case along with the accused officer,” it contended.
In Jharkand's Ranchi, the party workers burnt an effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, alleging that the NDA government’s action against Verma was "illegal and unconstitutional".
Over 40 Congress workers and leaders from Gujarat, including eight MLAs and former state unit chief were detained after they undertook a one km-long march from a church to the CBI office in the city. “We detained 47 Congress workers and leaders, including (party’s former state unit chief) Bharatsinh Solanki and eight MLAs. They were released after some time,” Gandhinagar Superintendent of Police, Mayur Chavda, said.
The legislators, who took part in the protest and were taken into custody by the police included Shailesh Parmar, C.J. Chavda, Himmatsinh Patel and Imran Khedawala, among others.
Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee members were also detained in Vijayawada, while in Telangana, Congress, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and CPI held a demonstration in front of the CBI office.
