Senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid on Friday said that he was participating in the protests by his party in the national capital to “save his leaders” who in turn will “save him”.
Khurshid was asked about BJP’s jibe alluding to Sonia Gandhi and her children -Rahul and Priyanka that the Congress had rallied together to save the “family” at a time when Enforcement Directorate had intensified its action against the Congress interim president and the Lok Sabha MP from Wayanad.
“Why will I come to save the family? I’ll come to save my leader, my leader saves me. I have no issue if they make this a definition of family,” Khurshid said.
Congress leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge and Shashi Tharoor were detained while marching to Rashtrapati Bhavan to mark their protest against issues of inflation, price rise, GST and unemployment.
Delhi Police had imposed Section 144 in certain parts of the national capital paramilitary forces and the Delhi Police blocked the Vijay Chowk road and the route from Parliament to President’s House by barricades.
Women paramilitary personnel queued right on the other side of the barricades to stop the Congress MPs from protesting. The Congress had announced that its MPs planned to gherao the PM House.
Rahul Gandhi while addressing a press conference earlier in the day, said that there was no democracy in India now and that the country is under the dictatorship of four people.
Meanwhile, in one of the sharpest attacks on Rahul Gandhi by the ruling BJP at the Centre, Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Pralhad Joshi today termed the Congress MP as a “fake Gandhi” with a “fake” ideology.
Speaking to reporters at the Parliament premises, Joshi said, “He (Rahul Gandhi) is not a descendant of Mahatma Gandhi. He is a ‘nakli’ (fake) Gandhi. And it is a fake ideology.”
The BJP leader’s comments came after Rahul Gandhi hurled a litany of charges at the Modi government. The BJP has also claimed that Congress has become aggressive to divert attention from the probe against its top leaders by investigative agencies.
Earlier, addressing a press conference in the national capital, Rahul Gandhi said, “Why do they attack the Gandhi family? They do it because we fight for an ideology and there are crores of people like us. We fight for democracy, for communal harmony and we have been doing this for years. It’s not just me who did that, it has been happening for years.”
“My family sacrificed their lives. It’s our responsibility because we fight for this ideology. It hurts us when Hindus-Muslims are pitted against each other when Dalits are killed, when a woman is thrashed. So, we fight. This isn’t just one family, this is an ideology,” said Rahul Gandhi.
Congress party leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and MP Mallikarjun Kharge among others chose to sport black outfits to mark their support for the protests called by Congress on price rise and inflation.
Comparing PM Modi with Hitler, Rahul Gandhi said, “Hitler had also won elections, he too used to win elections. How did he use to do it? He had control of all of Germany’s institutions…Give me the entire system, then I will show you how elections are won.”
Rahul Gandhi had further said, “We’re witnessing the death of democracy. What India has built brick by brick, starting almost a century ago, is being destroyed in front of your eyes. Anybody who stands against this idea of the onset of dictatorship is viciously attacked, jailed, arrested and beaten up.”
Soon after Rahul Gandhi’s press conference, BJP’s Gaurav Bhatia said, “Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi had got bail in 2015 in the National Herald case. This case was filed long back and they were not even raising such issues (that ED is being controlled) then. It’s just a tactic to divert attention from the fact that they have been caught red-handed. Bhatia’s comments came after Rahul Gandhi alleged that ED and other independent institutions were being controlled by the BJP and the RSS and used to intimidate the Opposition.”