NEW DELHI: The state Congress leaders on Monday staged a protest against inflation and rail fare hike at Jantar Mantar here. Interestingly, the party had announced gherao of Parliament House. However, the leaders courted arrest even before marching towards Parliament.
Around 2,000 Congress workers and senior party leaders such as Arvinder Singh Lovely, Mukesh Sharma, Jagdish Tytler, and Haroon Yusuf, courted arrest following the protest. Later, they were later released from the Parliament Street police station. The protesters burnt Prime Minister Narendra Modi in effigy.
Police, who had made elaborate security arrangements at the Sansad Marg, prevented the Congress leaders from marching towards the Parliament House by erecting barricades.
“The BJP-led Central Government has failed to stop the price rise. They are giving protection to the hoarders, which led to the skyrocketing of prices of basic essential commodities,” said state Congress chief Lovely. He was addressing the party workers.
The Congress leaders also targeted former Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party founder Arvind Kejriwal for his “silence” on the issue.
“Kejriwal’s silence in all these matters has proved that his agenda was to help the BJP form the government. If any new tax is imposed on the people of Delhi, the Congress workers will mount agitations across the city,” Congress spokesperson Sharma said.
After party’s consecutive crushing defeats in Assembly and Parliamentary elections, this was the first time when all the party and former MLAs participated in a protest.
Party MLAs Jai Kishan, Mateen Ahmed, and Hasan Ahmed, who were continuously voicing protest against the party’s decision of not forming a government,also joined the protest.