Conditions down to 5 but Rahul Gandhi must file fresh plea for Madhya Pradesh rally

Although the Mandsaur administration trimmed its list of conditions that the Congress president must adhere to during his rally in the district on June 6, Rahul Gandhi would still need to submit a fresh application to receive a go-ahead for the venue, according to a modified letter an official released here on Wednesday.

According to the letter, Gandhi’s rally now has to follow 5 conditions, as against 19 before. These include use of loudspeakers as per the directives set by the Supreme Court; no brandishing of firearms; slogans must not hurt anyone’s religious feelings; no incident should give rise to communal or law and order situation; and a fresh application has to be filed to seek additional permission from the department concerned for the use of venue.

In the event of the violation of any one of the conditions, the permission for the rally may stand cancelled, the letter said.

Mandsaur collector Om Prakash Shrivastava said, “Since the Congress has chosen the sports ground of Atal Bihari Vajpayee Government Degree College, Khokhra (Piplyamandi) as the venue for the rally, it will have to seek permission from the state’s higher education department to use the ground.”

State Congress media coordinator Narendra Saluja said, “We have no problem in seeking a fresh permission but the district administration has adopted a discriminatory attitude.”

In its previous letter, the administration had imposed noise control conditions such as no DJ and a maximum of 10 decibel sound for loudspeakers. (The sound level of normal breathing or a pin dropping is 10 decibel, according to noisehelp.com.)

Additionally, the letter said, the maximum size of the tent could only be 15 square feet, clean drinking water must be ensured, and responsibility of vehicle theft will rest with the organisers.

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram and party’s state president Kamal Nath have reacted sharply to directives.

“If letter imposing conditions for Rahul Gandhi’s rally at Mandsaur, M.P is true, then it is evident that the letter-writer has taken leave of his/her senses” Chidambaram tweeted. He said in another tweet: “Someone should read Article 19(1) of the Constitution to the author of the letter and the immediate bosses.”

Kamal Nath asked if these conditions would apply on the meetings of ‘Modi ji’ and other BJP leaders in the coming days.

He said the government of Shivraj Singh Chouhan intended to disturb and suppress Gandhi’s rally and the farmers’ voice.

State BJP spokesperson Rajneesh Agrawal said, “Congress unnecessarily raised the issue now even after the district administration issuing a modified permission letter. They are not interested in holding a rally but making a mountain out of a molehill.”

Farmers to launch agitation from June 1

Farmers organisations have decided to launch an agitation against the state government from June 1, five days ahead of the first anniversary of Mandsaur police firing in which six farmers were killed, seeking complete farm loan waiver and better remunerative price for crops.

This comes after the farmers were forced to sell onions and garlic at throwaway prices, and death of two farmers in the last two weeks. The call for the agitation has been given by Rashtriya Kisan Mahasangh, an umbrella body of more than 100 farmers’ organisations. Former Union minister Yashwant Sinha is has supported the agitation call.

(With input from Rohit Soni, Mandsaur)