‘Symbolic’protest
There was further embarrassment in store for the Congress amidst the nationwide fast party workers organised on Monday. Some leaders of the Congress' Delhi unit were photographed eating chholebhature at a famous restaurant before joining Congress president Rahul Gandhi at Rajghat, the New Delhi venue for the protest. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) tweeted the photograph of Delhi leaders Haroon Yusuf, Arvinder Singh Lovely and Ajay Maken enjoying the food. The same leaders had earlier said the fast was “symbolic”. The Congress however, asked the BJP if it was trying to take attention away from the alleged custodial death of a man who was protesting the alleged rape of his daughter by a BJP legislator in Uttar Pradesh.
Off the dais
The Congress party on Monday held a nationwide fast against caste violence and commmunalism. In Delhi, Congress president Rahul Gandhi was to lead the fast at Rajghat. However, Gandhi stayed away from the dais as long as senior leaders Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler — who have faced court cases for their alleged involvement in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots — sat there. Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken urged the two to leave the dais. While Kumar left the venue, Tytler sat among the party workers.
Lack of sporting spirit
Congress leader Manish Tewari on Sunday tweeted an email from the office of the minister of state for Information and Broadcasting, Rajyavardhan Rathore. The email purportedly asked sports federations to provide details of medals won by Indian athletes in international sporting events in the last four years. The minister also sought to know if a comparison can be made with medals won during the Congress-led UPA's time. “Isn’t this blatant politicisation of sports?” Tewari asked. Tewari, Rathore's predecessor at the ministry, said: “Sportsperson win medals for India not National Democratic Alliance (NDA/BJP) or UPA! Very shameful.”