Hundreds of Congress workers and leaders in Rajasthan clashed with police in Jaipur on Wednesday during a protest march towards the state BJP headquarters. The demonstration was organized after a Delhi court refused to take cognisance of the Enforcement Directorate's proceedings against Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in the high-profile National Herald case.
March Turns Into Confrontation
The protest, led by senior Congress functionaries, aimed to gherao (surround) the BJP's state office. However, police had erected barricades to stop the advancing crowd. This led to a scuffle between the Congress workers and the police personnel deployed on site. Several Congress MLAs, district presidents, and senior party members participated in the march.
In the ensuing melee, Congress MLA Manish Yadav attempted to climb over the barricades but was stopped by police using sticks. He lost his balance and fell. During the protest, a woman Congress worker also fell unconscious, adding to the tense atmosphere.
Senior Leaders Court Arrest
Following the confrontation, top Rajasthan Congress leaders voluntarily courted arrest. State Congress president Govind Singh Dotasra and Leader of Opposition Tikaram Jully were among those who surrendered to the police. They were joined by MLAs including Manish Yadav, Rafeek Khan, Ameen Kagzi, Vidyadhar Chaudhary, and party functionary Dharmendra Rathore, along with numerous other workers.
The police subsequently took the detained leaders and workers to the Bani Park police station in a police van. The protest caused significant disruption in the area surrounding the BJP headquarters.
Political Allegations Fly
Speaking to the media before his arrest, Rajasthan Congress chief Govind Singh Dotasra launched a sharp attack on the central government. He alleged that former Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Lok Sabha Opposition Leader Rahul Gandhi were subjected to prolonged interrogation by the ED for over 50 hours each due to political malice and vendetta by the Modi government.
"The ED acted against them based on the baseless complaint of BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, unnecessarily troubling them for a long time," Dotasra stated. He further accused BJP functionaries of making false allegations against the Congress and its top leadership using fabricated facts to further their political agenda.
Leader of Opposition Tikaram Jully criticized the state administration's response to the protest. He claimed that after facing embarrassment in the National Herald case in court, the BJP government was so scared that it deployed the entire police force to stop Congress workers. "The BJP government, out of fear, has turned the BJP headquarters and the state capital's roads into a police cantonment," Jully remarked.
The protest underscores the heightened political tensions in Rajasthan, with the Congress mobilizing its cadre in response to legal actions against its top leadership at the national level. The incident is likely to fuel further political debate in the state.
