Rahul Gandhi says Delhi is under siege, accuses Modi of shielding CEC Gyanesh Kumar

Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Monday again targeted the ruling BJP government at the Centre and the election commissioners at a press conference. He said agitations and marches had been going on in Delhi for the past four to five days. According to Gandhi, the protest had been building for the past 10 to 12 years but was now slowly coming out in the open.

Gandhi said the country's capital had become a prison. According to him, Delhi had been fortified and heavy police deployment was visible everywhere. He said people, students and young men coming to Delhi for the agitation were being stopped on the way, on trains and at bus stands.

Gandhi said all major trains coming to Delhi from across the country had been stopped and 56 metro stations in Delhi had been shut. According to him, the roads leading into Delhi had been tightly barricaded. "Our fight is for democracy and justice. Why, then, has such a huge fortification been put up in the country's capital today," he said.

For the past five to six days, leaders of the Opposition INDIA bloc have been holding a vigorous agitation in Delhi. At the CJP agitation a day or two ago, students, freelance journalists and young people taking part were beaten up badly. The INDIA bloc had sought time to meet Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Surya Kant over the state of the country, but Surya Kant declined to meet the Opposition.

Speaking about his strategy, Gandhi said: "We want this much police to come out on the streets, that is our strategy. We want to show people that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is protecting Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar." He said that on one hand they were demanding Gyanesh Kumar's resignation, but on the other they wanted Modi to protect him. In Gandhi's words, "The more they protect him, the sooner we will reach their controller."

Gandhi alleged that women and female students taking part in the students' and Opposition's agitation were being beaten by goons of the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. He said students had held an agitation in Delhi again on Sunday, but students, women and young women were assaulted yesterday as well.

On the police, Gandhi claimed that according to his reports the police were also quite angry. According to him, questions were being raised within the police force itself about why they were being made to beat up the country's young people. Gandhi said there was whispering in departments such as the Home Ministry, CRPF and ITBP that orders were being given to beat up young people while RSS people were being told to be left free.

Gandhi also said this was benefiting them. According to him, 50 per cent of policemen were telling him that what he was doing was right and he should keep doing it. Gandhi said that on one side now were the police, the people of the country and all the Opposition parties. On the other side were Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, Ajit Doval, Gyanesh Kumar and four or five people of the Election Commission, who, by his claim, had committed vote theft.