Wearing black clothes, the Congress MPs, under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi, tried to take out a march from the Parliament House to the Rashtrapati Bhawan on Friday. However, as the parliamentarians moved forward towards Rashtrapati Bhawan, the Delhi Police stopped them midway near Vijay Chowk.
The police tried to convince Rahul for a while, but as he was refusing to stop, they detained him and took him in a bus to Kingsway Police camp.
While speaking to the media persons before getting detained, Rahul Gandhi accused the Delhi Police of manhandling the parliamentarians. “We are standing here on the issues of price rise and unemployment. We wanted to move forward but the police did not allow us,” Gandhi said.
When asked about the MPs being manhandled by Delhi Police, Rahul said, “That is fine. I’m happy to be manhandled. Our job is to resist these forces, our job is to make sure that Indian democracy is protected. Our job is to raise issues of the people like price rise and unemployment and we are doing that.”
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, detained earlier in the day on Friday by the Delhi Police, has been kept at new police lines, Kingsway Police camp, here in the national capital, a Delhi Police official said.
“They (Rahul and others) were detained from the North fountain near Parliament. They are detained in Kingsway camp,” a senior Delhi Police official said.
The MPs had planned to hold a demonstration outside the residence of President Droupadi Murmu, however, it was denied two days ago by the Delhi Police and section 144 was imposed in the New Delhi district area.
“It is our right to meet the President. This Parliament session was called by the President and if the prime motive of Parliament is not fulfilled then it is our duty to meet her,” party leader Pramod Tiwari said.
Congress had announced a nationwide protest against the policies of the Central government, which has led to a rise in unemployment and inflation in the country.
Around 10 days ago also on July 26, Rahul Gandhi was detained in Kingsway camp during a protest march carried out by the Congress lawmakers from Parliament to Rashtrapati Bhawan.