New Delhi: Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, on Friday said that the INDIA bloc’s “public impeachment” event against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls has been postponed to Saturday, due to adverse weather in the national capital.
The event has been rescheduled for 2 p.m. on Saturday and will be held at its previously decided venue, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge’s official residence.
“The event was originally scheduled to be held today, but due to rain, it has been postponed and fixed for tomorrow afternoon,” a statement said.
Following the postponement, Gandhi, addressing the media, said: “By consensus, we have decided to postpone today’s programme to tomorrow at the same time. Because of rain, we felt that it would be uncomfortable for seniors to sit in the rain, and we will do this exact same programme tomorrow.”
“The day after, we have a march to Ramlila Ground. All the opposition, everybody who wants to come — political, non-political, social service people, civil society people, journalists…(are invited),” he said.
He asserted that both the “public impeachment” and the INDIA bloc’s November 1 rally are about the “demolition of Indian democracy by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and CEC Gyanesh Kumar and his crew in the Election Commission”.
Moreover, the LoP accused HM Shah of attempting to “stop” people from coming into Delhi to attend the protest rally.
“He is trying to ensure that our party members, thousands of common people who want to come from UP, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Telangana, Punjab etc. are being stopped…they (government) are trying their best,” Gandhi claimed.
Expressing confidence that the INDIA bloc rally will be attended in huge numbers, Gandhi said: “Now you watch what happens at Ramlila Ground. You watch how many people come, and you watch how many people they manage to stop, and you will understand what is going on in this country. Huge anger, huge emotional pain, because millions of people are being disenfranchised.”
The LoP underlined that this is one protest and that there are “no multiple protests”.
“The entire opposition is standing here. Anybody who wants to protest, any person, is welcome to come here. We are all standing together because we are defending the Constitution. We are defending the idea of India. We are defending the vote, which is the expression of all Indians,” he added.
Trinamool Congress-Mamata MP Derek O’Brien, who was present at the media briefing along with other INDIA bloc leaders, said: “We are all in this together. Civil society, students, youth, workers, housewives can join – we are all in this together.”
“This is a political plus. We all are in this together and we will win this together,” he asserted.
Samajwadi Party MP Dharmendra Yadav, who represented his party, said: “Akhilesh Yadav will participate in the Ramlila Ground rally.”
(IANS)
