Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, June 13: Some top Congress leaders including former union ministers were allegedly manhandled by the police in Delhi while trying to take out protest march on Monday, the Congress office at the state capital of Kerala Thiruvananthapuram was ransacked by the ruling CPM workers for showing black flags to the chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
The former Union minister and senior Congress leader AK Antony was present at the party office when the attack took place. According to the Congress sources, the CPM workers destroyed chairs and boards and also damaged vehicles parked on the premises. Stones were also pelted at the office. Condemning the incident Antony said this should not have happened.
The attack came hours after two Youth Congress workers showed black flags at Vijayan inside an Indigo aircraft when the latter was returning from Kannur to the capital. The duo was soon overpowered by security officials and LDF convenor EP Jayarajan who was travelling with the chief minister.
Massive protests have been underway by the Congress and the BJP in the southern state ever since the key accused in the gold smuggling case, Swapna Suresh, levelled allegations against the chief minister.
In Delhi, the Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala alleged that a “deadly attack” was launched on party leader KC Venugopal, while former Union minister P Chidambaram was hit by police and his glasses were thrown on the ground during a protest march as their party leader Rahul Gandhi headed to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) office for questioning in the National Herald case on Monday.
In videos posted on Twitter Surjewala said, “The Modi government has crossed all limits of barbarism. Former home minister P Chidambaram was hit by police, his glasses were thrown on the ground. He has a hairline fracture in his left rib. MP Pramod Tiwari was thrown on the road, he has a head injury and rib fracture. Is this a democracy?”
He added, “The entire day has passed, but the attack continues. A deadly attack was launched on Congress general secretary KC Venugopal. MP Shakti Singh Gohil was also attacked. Congress workers were beaten up. Thousands are in jail. Democracy has been trampled and the country will not forgive the Modi government.”
Walking in the blistering summer heat and raising slogans of solidarity with Gandhi, Congress members defied police restrictions as they joined their party leader. Several workers were detained in the morning when they were on their way to join the ‘Satyagraha march’ called by the opposition party, but scores of others gathered at the party headquarters by 9 am, holding the national and party flags.
Prominent among those detained were Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel, Venugopal and leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury. Chowdhury alleged manhandling by police personnel on the way to ED office.
“This is to intimate you that today I have been badly manhandled by the Delhi Police on the way to the ED office without even an iota of provocation. During the phase of police atrocities, I got an injury in the upper jaw of my mouth. May I request you to treat my letter as an allegation against those police personnel and do the needful,” he said in a letter to SHO Tughlaq Road.
Slogans of ‘Inquilab Zindabad’ and ‘Rahul tum sangharsh karo hum tumhare saath hain (Rahul you fight, we are with you)’ rent the air as Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and other prominent leaders of the Congress reached the party office. The protesters waved placards that read: ‘Satyamev Jayate’ (Truth Alone Triumphs) and “Will not fear, will not bow, will fight for truth anyhow’, as the procession comprising senior leaders, party functionaries and grassroots-level workers moved from the AICC headquarters towards the ED office nearly two kilometres away.
A small cage that had a poster with ED and CBI written on it was put at the party office in a symbolic protest by the party which has accused the Centre of misusing agencies to target opponents. The Congress, which has claimed that the charges against its leaders in the case are baseless and has accused the Modi government of political vendetta, dubbed the march as the start of Mahatma Gandhi’s ‘Satyagraha’ (peaceful resistance).
The ruling BJP, however, criticised the Congress, accusing it of celebrating corruption. The opposition party’s march made it through two points of barricading but was stopped at the third point, where several prominent leaders, as well as workers, were detained and taken away in police vans and buses.
Surjewala, who shared a picture on Twitter after being taken away by the police, alleged that “thousands” of party workers have been arrested and compared the Modi government to the British imperialists.