Bengaluru, (Samajweekly) Reacting strongly to a video clip that showed former Congress president Rahul Gandhi falling near the Yamuna Expressway, Congress leaders led by Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president D. K. Shivakumar took out a torchlight protest march on Thursday evening from the Congress Bhavan to the Mahatma Gandhi statue.
The march witnessed a dramatic turn of events with the police arresting Congress leaders in front of the Mahatma Gandhi statue in the heart of the city.
Notwithstanding the arrest, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president, D. K. Shivakumar released a two-minute video recorded in the police van by his workers.
In the clip, Shivakumar gives a call to Congress workers to launch a statewide protest beginning Friday.
“Attack on our leaders is no less than assault on our party’s self respect. Congress leaders, be it young or old, should come out on the street and launch widespread protests. Let us teach a befitting lesson to BJP leaders like Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Yogi Adityanath,” he thundered.
Congress leaders including Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah, Shivakumar and KPCC working president, Saleem Ahmed were arrested for organising the protest.
Earlier in the day, Congress and JD(S) leaders took to Twitter to condemn the detention of the Gandhi siblings.
Janata Dal (S) patriarch and former prime minister, H. D. Deve Gowda, too, came out in support of Gandhi siblings, and asserted on his Twitter handle that the BJP should not allow the police to misbehave with any leader from the Opposition.
While his son, former Karnataka chief minister, H. D. Kumarswamy charged that the BJP government was not even hesitating to unleash the brute police force on the leader of opposition. “This is not done,” he said in his hard hitting five-series tweets.
Shivakumar also condemned the attack and questioned Prime Minister, Narendra Modi “Why is the PM not speaking about Beti Bachao now?, he questioned angrily. “Under what law has he (Gandhi) been detained? Why are he and Priyanka Gandhi not being allowed to meet the victim’s family?” tweeted Shivakumar.
