Cong workers hold nationwide protest

Congress workers across the country on Saturday staged demonstrations to protest the disqualification of party leader Rahul Gandhi from Lok Sabha following his conviction by a Surat court in a 2019 criminal defamation case.

The party has decided to organize a nationwide day-long ‘Satyagraha’ on Sunday in solidarity with the former Congress president in front of Mahatma Gandhi’s statues at all states and district headquarters. The Satyagraha will begin at 10 am and end at 5pm, a Congress statement said. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will take part in the Satyagraha at Delhi’s Raj Ghat.

In Kerala’s Wayanad, which Rahul Gandhi represented in Lok Sabha before his disqualification, Congress workers on Saturday held strong protests, including burning of an effigy of PM Narendra Modi. Congress leaders, including legislator T Siddique, who took part in a protest march in Kalpetta in Wayanad, were removed from the site and carried away by the police.

Earlier in the day, senior Congress leader and leader of Opposition in Kerala assembly VD Satheesan told reporters that the party and the UDF would be holding protests across the state against the disqualification of Gandhi. “The party will also hold a protest march to the Kerala Raj Bhavan on March 27,” he added.

Gandhi was convicted and sentenced to two years in jail by a Surat court on March 22 in a 2019 criminal defamation case over “Modi surname” remark.

In Maharashtra, legislators of the Maha Vikas Aghadi — an alliance of the Shiv Sena (UBT), the Congress and the NCP — held a silent protest by covering their mouths with black bands and sitting on the steps of the assembly holding posters. Besides Congress MLAs, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray and NCP’s Jayant Patil also participated in the protest.

Hundreds of Congress activists staged demonstrations in several parts of West Bengal, including capital Kolkata, for the second consecutive day.