Congress condemns detention of Rahul Gandhi on way to Mandsaur, attacks MP govt over farmers' deaths

New Delhi: The Congress on Thursday condemned the detention of party vice president Rahul Gandhi while he was on his way to violence-hit Mandsaur in Madhya Pradesh and said it reveals the cowardice of the Modi government.

"The arrest of Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi by Madhya Pradesh police on his way to visit the victims of police violence at Mandasaur is highly condemnable.

"The arrest of Rahul Gandhi and other senior Congress leaders reveals the political cowardliness of the Modi government," AICC general secretary K C Venugopal said.

He said the Congress vice president was supposed to visit the relatives of farmers who lost their lives in police firing, to register his moral support to the farmers' agitation and ensure justice to the deceased.

Instead of meeting the demands of agitating farmers, the state government with the full support of central government is even trying to silence the voices of opposition leaders who stood for the farmers, he said.

"The arrest of Rahul Gandhi reveals the inability of the ruling dispensation to face tough questions on the farmers' distress across the country," he said, adding that ever since the government came in to power, farmers are agitating against the policies of the Modi government.

Venugopal said the government uncompromisingly upholds the interests of corporate sector and lends a deaf ear to the plight of farmers.

He said Gandhi has been raising his voice inside and outside Parliament against the anti-people and anti-farmer policies of the government.

The Congress vice president and other senior party leaders were detained by police when they tried to make their way to Mandsaur, ground zero of the protests, as the farmer movement in Madhya Pradesh moved into high political gear.

The police moved in to stop Gandhi as he defied elaborate security arrangements and tried to force his way into the state from Naya Gaon in Neemuch in Rajasthan, about 400 kms from state capital Bhopal.