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Congress MP Pramod Tiwari on Tuesday said party MPs wore black clothes in Parliament to protest the detention of Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi during the LKM protest outside Prime Minister Narendra Modi's residence, asserting that the Congress would continue to support students and raise their demands.
Speaking to ANI, Tiwari described Rahul Gandhi's detention as "brutal" and said the party stood firmly behind the demands raised by the Leader of Opposition. "In protest against the brutal and vengeful arrest of Rahul Gandhi--the Leader of the Opposition of a great democratic country like India--who was dragged and humiliated in a display of sheer cruelty, we are wearing black clothes today. We fully support the three demands raised by Rahul Gandhi in solidarity with the students," Tiwari said. Appealing to the youth, he added, "I want to say to the younger generation and to the entire nation: if you have ever felt a lingering regret that you were not born when the struggle for India's independence was being fought, I appeal to you to step forward now, democratically, peacefully, and non-violently, to stand against this government." Echoing similar sentiments, Congress MP Jebi Mather criticised the government's handling of the protest, alleging that Rahul Gandhi was manhandled while raising students' concerns. "Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi was dragged on the streets. Imagine the kind of attitude of this government, where the Leader of Opposition is dragged, the blood came out, and for what? When Rahul Gandhi is taking the issue of students, when Rahul Gandhi is becoming the voice of students, he is being treated like this," Mather said. She said the Congress would not stop questioning the government despite the detention of its leaders. "If the government feels that by dragging Rahul Gandhi, or by detaining Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, KC Venugopal, and other leaders of Congress, we will succumb to all this pressure and stop questioning the government, then they are miserably wrong. We will continue. Rahul Gandhi will continue. We will stand behind Rahul Gandhi," she said. Reiterating the party's demand, Mather added, "They can put us behind bars, they can arrest us, they can detain us, they can take us to Tihar Jail, but we will stand with the students. Our first and foremost demand is that Dharmendra Pradhan should resign." Ahead of the parliamentary proceedings, leaders from various opposition parties convened for a strategy meeting in Rajya Sabha Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge's chamber. Meanwhile, opposition parties on Wednesday intensified their protest inside Parliament against the central government over the alleged mishandling of student demonstrations and the detention of lawmakers. Separately, members of opposition outfits registered their dissent within Parliament premises by wearing black attire to observe a 'Black Day' against police action. Speaking to ANI, Congress MP Syed Naseer Hussain said, "All MPs of the Opposition parties will come dressed in 'black' clothes today and observe a 'Black Day' in protest over the use of police against the students and the MPs. We want the government to have dialogue with the students and do an overhaul of the education system." (ANI)
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