NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday hit out at the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh over the arrest of his party's leaders in connection with protests in the Chinmayanand case and asserted that Congress workers will stay put on the streets and face oppression.
About 80 Congress workers have been arrested while holding a public meeting ahead of a march they had planned in support of the student who has accused BJP's former Union minister Chinmayanand of rape, police in Shahjahanpur said.
Accusing the Uttar Pradesh Police of blocking the march, the Congress said on its official Twitter handle that its leaders, including former Union minister Jitin Prasada, were detained.
Adding to the chorus of protest, Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi, "The BJP government of UP is standing with the one committing atrocities on daughters and is taking protesting Congressmen into custody." In this path of struggle, our party workers will stay put on the streets and face oppression, the former Congress chief added, using the hashtag 'BJP Bhagao Beti Bachao'.