New Delhi [India], October 8 : Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday announced that the INDIA bloc MPs will stage a peaceful sit-in protest against CEC Gyanesh Kumar at Gandhi Smarak in Delhi amid the ongoing row over the alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
This will mark the third consecutive day of protest by the opposition MPs after they staged a march to Nirvachan Sadan on Tuesday and protested near Jantar Mantar on Wednesday. The MPs boarded the bus to move towards the Raj Ghat.
Speaking to reporters, Kharge said, “We, the members of the INDIA alliance, are heading to the Gandhi Memorial to stage a peaceful sit-in protest. We will sit there and pray that the BJP government, specifically PM Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, be granted the wisdom to realise that their actions are not in the nation's interest. Whether it is the issue of vote theft, the rising inflation, the problems facing the youth, or any other crisis they have created, everything goes against the public interest.”
“That is why we are going to the Gandhi Memorial to pray; we want to highlight that they are snatching away the freedom we secured, the freedom won for us by great leaders like Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Mahatma Gandhi, and Vallabhbhai Patel and are making every effort to destroy it. They are taking away our right to vote. We are going there to pray that they be granted the wisdom to stop stripping us of the rights and freedoms—including the right to vote—that were secured for us by these great leaders. We will sit there and stage a protest,” he added.
Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi alleged a criminal conspiracy by Prime Minsiter Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, CEC Gyanesh Kumar and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, affirming that they will be brought to justice.
He said, “About 300 MPs want to hold a peaceful protest. We are not being allowed to hold the protest for the past two days. On the first day, they stopped us in front of the Election Commission; the next day we were stopped near Jantar Mantar. Our people were beaten. The reality is that Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, Gyanesh Kumar and Mohan Bhagwat have hijacked India with a criminal conspiracy, destroyed the Constitution and did ‘vote chori’. Action will be taken, they will be brought to justice; this is our guarantee.”
Congress and other INDIA bloc MPs held the lunch meeting, hosted by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge.
Along with Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, RJD MP Manoj Jha, TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee, and CPI(M) MP John Brittas also joined the meeting and are heading for the protest.