Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday led INDIA bloc leaders from a lunch meeting towards Jantar Mantar in a bus procession, in a surprise attempt to stage a protest against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, as he continues to take his politics to the streets.
For the second consecutive day, however, police stopped the leaders before they could reach the designated protest site and detained Gandhi and several other opposition leaders.
"We are not going to stop protesting till (Chief Election Commissioner) Gyanesh Kumar resigns. This is a fight to protect the most sacred thing in this country. There is nothing that Narendra Modi and Amit Shah can do that will stop us," Gandhi said.
There were several dramatic moments during the nearly three-hour-long bus procession and an impromptu sit-in at the roundabout in front of the Shangri-La hotel, where opposition MPs were stopped by security personnel, with Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra lying flat on her back on the street, clutching a copy of the Constitution, along with other women leaders.
Rahul resisted police attempts to put him inside a van for detention. INDIA bloc leaders jostled with security personnel who tried to detain them and clear the area.
A day after INDIA bloc MPs marched from Parliament and Rahul staged a sit-in at Akashvani Bhawan, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge hosted lunch for the alliance's MPs at a South Indian restaurant at Janpath, seen by many as a show of solidarity and a cover for launching another street protest.
The MPs converged at the all-vegetarian Sagar Ratna after Rahul had earlier been trolled online by a section of X users for having a non-vegetarian roll from the 'Khan Chacha' eatery during his eight-hour sit-in at Akashvani Bhawan.
The lunch began at 1:30 pm, with opposition MPs congregating for a second straight day. After about one-and-a-half hours, the MPs streamed out of the eatery, took their seats in three buses parked on Janpath Road and headed towards Jantar Mantar.
Some Congress leaders, including Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, Imran Masood, Imran Pratapgarhi, Deepender Hooda and Srinivas B V, climbed onto the roof of the bus carrying Kharge, Rahul and Priyanka, and waved the tricolour as the procession crawled from Janpath to Jantar Mantar, bringing the high-security area to a halt for the second day.
However, the buses were stopped by a multi-layered security cordon at Ashoka Road, after travelling a kilometre, near the Shangri-La hotel, barely another kilometre from the Jantar Mantar protest site.
MPs of the Congress, TMC, CPI-M, CPI, RJD, IUML and some other parties were among the protesters.
The Samajwadi Party was unrepresented at the INDIA bloc lunch, with the Congress attributing the absence of some allies to short notice. However, SP sources separately voiced concerns over a lack of consultation ahead of Rahul Gandhi's surprise protests.
Representatives of the Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP-SP also could not attend because of prior commitments.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said all parties of the INDIA bloc had been invited, but the decision and communication came late on Tuesday night. "Therefore, it was natural that representatives from some parties could not participate in it. Some media outlets are making unnecessary comments about this,” he posted on X.
Ramesh asserted that INDIA bloc constituents and other opposition parties remained united against “vote theft”, the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and delimitation.
Before embarking on the bus ride, Gandhi spoke to the media and said, "Today, we feel that we will protest at Jantar Mantar, which is a designated protest site, and tell the country that for us Gyanesh Kumar is not a legitimate Election Commissioner."
"As I said yesterday, around 300 Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs wanted to meet Election Commissioners, but they did not meet us. They told us that we cannot protest here (Jantar Mantar)," Gandhi said.
Asked about an FIR being registered against him for entering the Akashvani Bhawan premises and staging an eight-hour sit-in there, Gandhi said, "I have 45 FIRs against me. My target is that there should be 100 FIRs against me. Every FIR against me is a medal for me."
Kharge said the Election Commission is making mistakes and "Modi ji is getting these mistakes done".
"We have decided that we will together take the voice of the people to the country. We will tell the people that their rights are being taken away. We are working hard to protest those rights of people. We are all united and will continue to fight against this government," the Congress chief said.
On FIRs registered against the Congress leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, he said, "You may register as many cases as you want; we are not going to be scared."
As the bus procession reached the Shangri-La roundabout from the Jantar Mantar road, some young protesters were seen tearing Prime Minister Narendra Modi's posters and banners put up at the roundabout.
As the bus carrying Kharge, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, among others, neared the multi-layered security personnel cordon, it was stopped, with security personnel urging them not to proceed further as BNS 163 was in force.
Soon there was a melee as leaders and security personnel jostled amid loud sloganeering, demanding the CEC's resignation. Priyanka Gandhi and some other women MPs then lay flat on the ground, with the Congress general secretary clutching a copy of the Constitution in her hand.
Both Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi were forcibly put in police buses and vans and detained.
Some Congress leaders, including Amarinder Singh Raja Warring and Udai Bhanu Chib, climbed atop the bus carrying Rahul Gandhi, while Mumtaz Patel sat on its bonnet.
Later, the Congress said, "The bus in which Rahul Gandhi ji was being taken was punctured by Congress's Babbar lions near Agrasen ki Baoli."
The leaders were then taken to a police station in central Delhi.
In a video attached to an X post, Rahul Gandhi said that "Prime Minister Modi, Amit Shah, (RSS chief) Mohan Bhagwat and Gyanesh Kumar can do all this, but we are going to bring them to justice. My guarantee that all four of them will be brought to justice."
"This is all a panic reaction. This is all fear. They are going to be brought to justice, mark my words," he said.
This was the latest in a series of protests by political leaders and civil activists to press for Chief Election Commissioner Kumar's resignation since a September 25 Indian Express report that suggested irregularities in the SIR process and differences among the election commissioners.
(With inputs from PTI)