PoliticsOpposition
Ramlila Maidan rally is a 'stern warning' to Modi and Shah, says Venugopal
The Congress general secretary said the Prime Minister and the Home Minister had lost their composure over the scale of support for the protest against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, as workers of several parties kept arriving in central Delhi.
Key points
- K C Venugopal called the rally a stern warning to Modi and Shah.
- He said the two leaders had lost their composure over the public response.
- Samajwadi Party workers gathered outside Akhilesh Yadav's residence before heading out.
Congress general secretary K C Venugopal said on Sunday morning that the INDIA bloc’s rally at Ramlila Maidan was “a stern warning” to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, hours before opposition leaders were due to march to the ground.
Speaking to reporters in Delhi at about 10:40 am, Venugopal said the protest against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar would be one “like never before”, and claimed it had already rattled the two leaders. “They have lost their composure seeing the magnitude of the public support for the protest,” he said. “That is why they are making statements that the protestors are anarchists and the agitation was an insult to the Parliament.”
The remarks came as workers of several parties kept streaming in to the centre of the capital. Samajwadi Party workers gathered outside Akhilesh Yadav’s residence, while Congress supporters assembled outside Himachal Bhawan before walking to the venue, where a large tricolour canopy now covers the stage area.
The bloc says it expects up to 10 lakh people, while Delhi Police have planned for about 50,000. Alliance leaders are to travel in open buses from Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s residence to the Minto Road and Connaught Place junction, from where the march to the ground is due to start at noon.
The rally’s single demand is the resignation of the CEC over the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. The BJP has called a march of its own in west Delhi on the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, due to start from Hari Nagar at 11:30 am.