The Delhi unit of the Congress staged a protest against the BJP government at the Centre over freezing the accounts of the Congress party and its Youth wing, in the city on Saturday.

Members of the Congress under the leadership of its Delhi president Arvinder Singh Lovely held the demonstration outside the Income Tax office at ITO. They shouted slogans against the ruling dispensation.

Addressing the members of the party, Lovely said: “The power-drunk Modi Government is trying to throttle democracy by freezing the accounts of the country’s largest political party like the Indian National Congress, which had made unimaginable sacrifices for the freedom movement.”

Attacking the BJP, the Delhi Congress chief further said: “The autocratic government’s move to muffle the voice of the Congress party by unleashing Government agencies like the I-T, ED and CBI is highly deplorable. The voice of the Congress cannot be silenced or stifled by such draconian methods.”

He asserted that the Congress will continue its fight against the “autocratic and anti-people policies of the Modi government and added that the freezing of accounts is not only an attack on the financial stability of the Indian National Congress, but also a blatant assault on the democratic values the party holds.”

Echoing similar sentiments, party leader and former MLA Mukesh Sharma said: “The BJP is fearing Congress as a serious threat to its autocratic rule in the coming Lok Sabha elections, as Congress has been championing the causes of the common people, unemployed youth, women, labour and farmers, which is exposing the hollow promises of the Modi Government.”

He added: “The freezing of the Congress accounts was to squeeze its functioning, but Congress will not step back and will forcefully continue its fight against injustice and illegal actions, without fearing the arm-twisting tactics of the Modi government.”

The Congress on Friday accused the Centre that it had frozen the accounts of the country’s largest Opposition party and the Youth Congress. Later, the party said it can operate its accounts with a lien of the I-T Department.