The senior Congress leaders on Monday sat on a ‘Satyagrah’ at Mahatma Gandhi’s memorial Rajghat in protest against the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act.

Congress interim chief Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath, his Rajasthan counterpart Ashok Gehlot, Ahmed Patel, Mallikarjun Kharge, Anand Sharma and AK Antony among others were sharing the stage at Rajghat.

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Party general secretaries Mukul Wasnik and KC Venugopal were also there at the protest along with hundreds of party workers.

The protest started with the reciting of the national song of India, ‘Vande Mataram’ by the Congress leaders. Following the national song, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Manmohan Singh read the Preamble of the Constitution at the stage.

The party members also observed one-minute of silence in solidarity with the students and youths who have been protesting the new legislation and in support of their cause and against the BJP-led government’s policies.

Attacking the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi said, “The people of the country will not let you attack the Constitution. All of India will fight you.”

Criticising the police action on students during the anti-CAA protests, Rahul Gandhi said, “Narendra Modi ji, when you get students shot by bullets and when you get them lathicharged, or when you threaten the journalists, then you try to suppress the voice of the country.”

Alleging PM Modi of destroying the Indian economy, Rahul said, “The enemies of the country made full efforts to destroy the economy of the country, but what our enemies could not do, is now being done by PM Narendra Modi today.”

“Modi ji, stop hiding behind the hatred and tell the youth of the country, why did you not provide employment. Tell the shopkeepers, small industrialists, why did you destroy the economy?” Rahul Gandhi questioned PM Modi in his speech.

On PM Modi’s earlier remarks that those creating violence can be identified by their clothes, Rahul Gandhi said, ” When it comes to clothes, the entire nation knows you because of your clothes. It was you who had worn a suit worth Rs 2 crore, it was not the people of the country.”

Rahul further said, “Modi ji will not be able to answer any questions because he only divides India and spreads hatred.”

This was the first time after the anti-CAA protests, which shook the entire nation, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi took the stage to criticise the government.

However, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra actively raised her voice, as she joined the protesters at India Gate and also visited the families of violence victim’s in Uttar Pradesh Bijnor.

While reading the Preamble of the Constitution, Priyanka Gandhi said in the names of all those who martyred during the anti-CAA protests. She took the names of 22-year-old Anas and 21-year-old Suleiman of Bijnor who died during the anti-CAA protests.

KC Venugopal said that the protests meant to oppose the authoritarian government and stand in support of the agitating students and civil society groups.

Earlier in the day, Rahul Gandhi took it to Twitter to appeal to the youth to come and support the protests at Rajghat.

In his tweet, he urged the youths and students to join the protest against the hate and violence unleashed on India by Modi-Shah duo.