An attack on the soul of the nation: Priyanka

NEW DELHI: Congress party General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Monday launched a two-hour silent protest at the iconic India Gate to show solidarity with the students and came down heavily against the Centre for impairing the Constitution.

She also attacked the Central leadership for its handling of the student protests that erupted in the Capital and around the country in response to the Citizenship Amendment Bill becoming law.

The protests at Delhi’s Jamia Millia Islamia University turned volatile on Sunday, with the mob setting four buses on fire, following which the police started lobbing tear gas shells into the University campus and entered the varsity’s library to round up protesting students and detain them. Students who were not protesting were also beaten up and detained by the Delhi Police.

Reacting to the police’s violent handling of the protests and protesters on Sunday evening, Priyanka said on Monday that the police action on students was “an attack on the soul of the nation”. She continued: “The government has given a blow to the Constitution. It is an attack on the soul of the nation. The youth is the soul of the nation. It is their right to protest.”

She was speaking to reporters at the venue, surrounded by around 300 party workers, including several prominent national leaders, to show solidarity. The protests against the highly controversial amendment to the Citizenship Act have been raging across the country, spearheaded by students, since the Upper House passed the Amendment, clearing the way for the President to give his assent to it.

Priyanka went on to term the decision to bring this Amendment “an act of destroying the spirit of the Constitution”, calling all Indians to fight this.