A short video clip the Congress released on Friday revealed the new-found dynamics in the Opposition camp. The video was shot inside a bus in which the Delhi Police was taking a group of Congress and Left MPs after they were detained at the Vijay Chowk. The Opposition MPs had marched to Vijay Chowk demanding the setting up of a Joint Parliament Committee (JPC) probe to look into allegations against the Adani group.
The Congress announced the Opposition march to Vijay Chowk on Thursday night, hours after a Surat Court convicted Rahul Gandhi in a defamation case over his 2019 remark about thieves with the surname Modi. On Friday morning when leaders of various Opposition parties met at Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge’s chamber, some of the leaders felt the two issues — Rahul’s conviction and the JPC demand — could be merged.
While most of the Opposition parties stood firmly with the Congress in criticising Gandhi’s conviction, some of them felt taking out a rally against a court verdict might not send the right signal. Instead, they felt that Gandhi’s conviction and the possibility of his disqualification from the Lok Sabha in the wake of his conviction — he has since been disqualified — could be welded and projected as the ruling BJP’s attempt to silence the Opposition.
So the Opposition MPs. mostly from the Congress, walked out of Parliament carrying a banner that read “Democracy in danger”. Some MPs held placards demanding a JPC. In one of the buses in which the MPs were taken, Congress Rajya Sabha MP Imran Pratapgarhi was seen raising slogans demanding a JPC even as fellow MPs A A Rahim and V Sivadasan of the CPI(M) joined him.
Rahim and Sivadasan, on the other hand, were silent when Pratapgarhi raised the “Rahul Gandhi zindabad” slogan. Having married both issues, the Congress ensured that Opposition unity remained intact as it would have been difficult for most of the Opposition parties to join the protest only on the issue of Gandhi’s conviction. At the All India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters, Congress workers staged a separate protest against Gandhi’s conviction.
Addressing reporters at the Vijay Chowk, Kharge said the Opposition had been demanding a JPC and that demand remained. “One thing has become clear. Modiji wants to hide something from the people. Nirav Modi, (Mehul) Choksi, Lalit Modi, (Vijay) Mallya.. They all went out of the country after looting crores of rupees. Modi is silent on that. On the other hand, he is attacking others,” said the Congress chief.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi leaves parliament building in New Delhi on Friday. (PTI Photo)
Kharge also slammed the BJP for projecting Gandhi’s remarks, which led to his conviction, as an attack against the Other Backward Classes (OBC) community. He said people such as Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi, and Choksi fled with the money of public sector banks and the public. “OBCs did not do so, then how were they insulted?” he asked.
“They are talking of insults to backward classes. The Congress has always stood with and fought for the backward classes, Scheduled Castes, and minorities. These people who believe in Manu, talk of backward classes,” Kharge said. He also claimed that Gandhi was not being allowed to speak in Parliament.
Combining the two issues, the AAP’s Sanjay Singh said the BJP was trying to finish off the Opposition. “Modi ji ka naara hai vipaksh ko khatam karo aur apne bhaiyon ko bachao (Modi ji’s objective is to finish off the Opposition and save his brothers),” he said, adding that the government was not ready to set up a JPC because the Modi government was involved in corruption.
Singh also spoke of Gandhi’s conviction. “You have never heard of a court sentencing someone to two years in prison in a defamation case. This means that the attempt is to trap all the Opposition leaders in investigations by CBI, ED and other probes, get them convicted by courts and disqualify them … .finish off their parties..that is their aim. We condemn their attempt to finish off democracy, constitution, political parties and the Opposition,” he said.
Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi said the BJP government was running a scheme called “dhanna sethon ko bachao aur vipaksh ko investigation agencies ke madhyam se phasao (save the rich and trap Opposition members through investigation agencies).”
Congress party President Mallikarjun Kharge, centre, speaks during a protest against the Narendra Modi-led government alleging that Indian democracy is in danger, during a protest outside India's parliament in New Delhi, India, Friday, March 24. (PTI) 
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi leaves parliament building in New Delhi on Friday. (PTI Photo)
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