Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi,
former PM Manmohan Singh, who were detained by police, were released after a
brief while.
Under attack over AgustaWestland issue, a combative
Sonia Gandhi on Friday hit back at the Modi government, saying it should
"not try to frighten" Congress and that life has taught her "to
fight on", as she, Rahul Gandhi and other top party leaders courted arrest
after they were stopped from marching to Parliament.
"Do not make the mistake of thinking that the
Congress party is weak. We will not allow democratic institutions to be
weakened or destroyed," she said at a 'Save Democracy' rally held by the
party at Jantar Mantar here, before they tried to march to Parliament.
A heavy police posse stopped the protesters after
which Sonia, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, former Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh and others courted arrest at the Parliament Street police
station. They were released after a short while.
Congress leaders and workers protest outside Parliament street police station after party leadership were detained during their protest march.
"Do not try to frighten or defame us. Life has
taught me to fight on," the Congress Chief said, in the backdrop of the
bribery allegations in the VVIP chopper deal case.
"Today those who do not agree with them are
harassed," she said, addressing the rally, and warned "Inke din ab
poore hogaye hai" (Their days are over now). People can teach them a
lesson if they continue to indulge in it."
Targeting RSS, Sonia said, "We have to send a
message so strong that people sitting in Raisina Hill and Nagpur sit up and
listen."
Accusing the Modi government of "murdering
democracy and destroying democratic institutions", she said, "I want
to say clearly that whatever effort you make to destroy democracy, we will not
allow it to happen. We are used to waging struggle and we have faced many
challenges in the past.
"Congress is not new to struggle. We have shed
blood for the cause of the nation. We are the people who have given blood and
laid down our lives to protect the basic principles. We will not withdraw from
it."
Referring to the political crisis in Arunachal and
Uttarakhand, she accused the Modi government of dislodging
democratically-elected Congress governments "with the use of money
power".
"They have murdered democracy. Today the
forests in Uttarakhand are burning but there is no government to douse the
blaze," the Congress President said.
On the raging farmers' suicide issue, Sonia said,
"We had taken steps for the betterment of farmers, workers, women and youth.
But this government has destroyed it. Everybody is feeling harassed and sad
today. Farmers are committing suicide. They have assumed power by showing false
dreams."
She said Congress will continue to fight inside and
outside Parliament against injustice.
The Congress Chief appealed to her partymen "to reach out to the
people and unmask Modi government in a democratic way". "We will not
allow the democratic set up to be destroyed," she said.
Photo: Twitter
Source: PTI
0 comments:
Post a Comment