New Delhi: Top Congress leaders on Sunday (March 26, 2023) converged at Raj Ghat and began their 'sankalp satyagraha' to protest against Rahul Gandhi's disqualification from the Lok Sabha. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were among the leaders who gathered for a day-long satyagraha at the Raj Ghat, the memorial dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi in the national capital. 




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Senior Congress leaders KC Venugopal, P Chidambaram, Salman Khurshid, Jairam Ramesh, Mukul Wasnik, Pawan Kumar Bansal, Saktisinh Gohil, Jothimani, Pratibha Singh and Manish Chatrath were also among the party's top brass present at the protest site.


They, however, didn't get permission from the Delhi Police as the request was rejected due to law and order and traffic reasons and prohibitory orders under Section 144 CrPC imposed in and around Raj Ghat.



A police officer told the news agency PTI that while permission for holding the satyagraha has been denied, adequate security arrangements have been put in place.


In response to the Delhi Police's action, Venugopal said on Twitter, "After silencing our voice in Parliament, the government has refused to let us hold a peaceful satyagraha at Bapu's (Mahatma Gandhi) samadhi as well.


"It has become a habit for the Modi government to disallow every opposition protest. This will not deter us, our fight for truth, against tyranny goes on."



The Congress has announced plans to hold a day-long satyagraha in front of Gandhi statues at all states and district headquarters on Sunday to protest against Gandhi's disqualification.


The satyagraha began around 10 AM and is scheduled to end at 5 PM.


Gandhi was disqualified from the Lok Sabha on Friday, a day after a court in Gujarat's Surat convicted him in a 2019 defamation case. 


The disqualification will bar the 52-year-old politician, a four-time MP, from contesting polls for eight years unless a higher court stays his conviction.


The Congress leader claimed that the action against him was taken because Prime Minister Narendra Modi was "scared" of his next speech in Parliament on the Adani issue.


At a "special" press conference on Saturday, he also alleged that the "whole game" was to distract people from the issue and the panic the government was feeling over the matter.



His party, meanwhile, has said that he is not alone and that millions of Congressmen and people irrespective of their political affiliations will join him in this fight for truth and justice.