New Delhi, (Samajweekly) Delhi Police on Tuesday detained over 90 Congress leaders and party workers, including Harish Rawat and J.P. Agrawal, from near the Red Fort when they tried to march to the Town Hall near Chandni Chowk to protest against Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification from the Lok Sabha following his conviction in a criminal defamation case.
According to the Deputy Commissioner of Police (North), Sagar Singh Kalsi, as many as 96 people, including former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat, ex-MP J.P. Aggarwal, T.N. Prathapan, Deen Kuriakorse and Shakti Singh Gohil were detained by the police.
All the detainees were later released and the situation is normal now, the DCP said.
“Delhi Police are stopping us from taking out the ‘Loktantra Bachao Mashal Shanti March’ from the Red Fort, and not allowing us to reach the venue! However, this has not deterred us, and we have begun our march from the police barricades itself,” Congress General Secretary K.C. Venugopal tweeted.
The protest was organised by the party against the alleged “authoritarian and autocratic” rule of the Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre.