New Delhi [India], October 6 : Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday declared that the Opposition "will spare no one" involved in undermining the nation's democratic institutions, as he lashed out at Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar for being "scared" to meet nearly 300 parliamentarians stopped outside Nirvachan Sadan.
Speaking to reporters, Rahul Gandhi questioned the state of Indian democracy if constitutional authorities refuse to engage with elected representatives.
"A short while ago, nearly 300 Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs came here. We wanted to meet Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and his two colleagues. The police stopped us here. We are the nation's representatives; we represent the voice of the country. I don't know why 300 MPs were stopped, and after that, they have made us sit here. The Election Commission is barely 50 yards away, but they are not letting us go... We will spare no one," Rahul Gandhi said.
Reaffirming the Opposition's resolve to challenge the ruling establishment, the Lok Sabha LoP asserted that the opposition was standing at the EC's door to save democracy.
"We are not only countering them (BJP); we will destroy them. I have no interest in what the BJP says. I am standing here to save democracy in India. Along with me, 300 MPs, who also want to save democracy, had come here. Amit Shah, Narendra Modi, Mohan Bhagwat, and Gyanesh Kumar have destroyed democracy in the country. The whole country agrees with this. The youth of the nation understand and agree with it. Even the police personnel agree with it. Narendra Modi, Amit Shah and Mohan Bhagwat have hijacked the nation through 'vote chori', and Gyanesh Kumar has helped them. Action will be taken against all of them. What has been done to our country is called treason; nobody is going to escape."
Gandhi’s remarks come after police detained Congress cadres who had entered Akashvani Bhavan, as prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) were in force in the area following the INDIA bloc march to the EC office on Tuesday.
Earlier, an attempt by the Congress cadres to breach the poll body's gates triggered sharp scuffles with security personnel, even as Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi, and other senior parliamentarians staged a sit-in demonstration inside the nearby Akashvani complex, barely 100 metres away.
Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi and Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were stopped from entering the Election Commission office complex, following which INDIA bloc MPs staged a sit-in outside the EC office after marching from Parliament to Nirvachan Sadan, demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
This comes as the opposition INDIA bloc on Tuesday hit the streets of the national capital as their protest march towards the Election Commission, raising slogans demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar