New Delhi: Rahul Gandhi has described the INDIA bloc’s protest against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar as “Lord Shiva’s tandav”, saying the agitation will continue to take different forms as the Opposition presses its allegations of electoral irregularities.
He said that the ongoing protests were part of a resistance against the government that had been going on for the past 10 to 13 years. The Congress leader also returned to the Opposition’s meeting with President Droupadi Murmu on October 9.
He said the movement did not depend on a fixed programme and would adapt to police restrictions. So I told my sister, ‘You are not understanding the point. “We want this, and the government is making a big mistake because we want to show the country that the government, PM Narendra Modi, is protecting Gyanesh Kumar,” he said. He said that she had asked the delegation to provide evidence for its allegations of “vote chori” (vote theft). Rahul said he and Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge had written to Chief Justice of India Surya Kant seeking a meeting to discuss their allegations.
The police did not allow them to proceed as planned, prompting them to change their course of action. “My sister tells me that we should make a plan. This is Tandav. This is Lord Shiva’s dance. There is no planning in this. He described the agitation as a public movement in Delhi that had gathered pace over the previous four to five days.
He cited the earlier protest near Akashvani Bhavan, where Opposition leaders had planned to travel by bus, sit at a location and get arrested. The CJI declined their request, saying the leaders could pursue the matter through a petition before the court. Earlier reporting noted: The Congress leader then cited his Bharat Jodo Yatra, saying it acted as a unifier.
Today, we are going to the Supreme Court; tomorrow it will be something else,’” he told the media at the All India Congress Committee headquarters, ahead of a planned march to the Supreme Court, where Opposition leaders want to submit a petition over the functioning of the Election Commission (EC).
