New Delhi: After clashes erupted between Congress and BJP workers in Assam during Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in that state, with the party claiming that some of its senior leaders were attacked, Congress state units across the country launched protests on Monday evening. These protests were held in Delhi and several state capitals, and are likely to continue. The war of words between the Congress and Assam chief minister Hemanta Biswa Sarma has got party cadres up in arms.
Rahul Gandhi and other party leaders were heckled by BJP mobs who chanted slogans like “Jai Shri Ram” and “Modi, Modi”.
In New Delhi, Congress workers and leaders tried to gherao the BJP headquarters at Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg but were stopped by the police, officials said.
In a late-night post on X Sunday, AICC general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal alleged that since the yatra’s entry in Assam, “the most corrupt chief minister in India has been carrying out relentless attacks on our convoys, properties and leaders using his goons”. He added: “This is a matter that every Indian must take seriously because it exposes the BJP’s fascism and hooliganism. All across India, PCCs and DCCs are instructed to hold large-scale protests tomorrow evening and expose how the Narendra Modi-led BJP is killing democracy in Assam through their corrupt CM.” Mr Venugopal said: “Our fight for justice — social, economic and political — will continue undeterred!”
In his letter to all PCC chiefs, state in-charges, party secretaries, heads of frontal organisations, departments and cells, Mr Venugopal said the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra led by Rahul Gandhi, which began in Manipur on January 14, has successfully journeyed through Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, and had now entered Assam.
“Regrettably, as you know, the BJP, particularly its most corrupt chief minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma in Assam, is desperately trying to disrupt this peaceful yatra,” he said.
On Monday evening, the yatra has moved from Assam to neighbouring Meghalaya.
Assam Congress chief Bhupen Kumar Borah was allegedly assaulted and AICC general secretary Jairam Ramesh’s car was targeted in Assam’s Sonitpur district during the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra on Sunday. The party demanded a judicial inquiry into the attack on Mr Borah, alleging the involvement of a BJP MLA and his supporters. Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was also mobbed at a roadside eatery in Assam’s Nagaon district on Sunday evening.
