‘Centre is scared of Gandhi’s vociferous voice on Adani issue’
Panaji: The state unit of the Congress party staged a ‘Sankalp Satyagraha’ on Sunday to protest against Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification from Lok Sabha.
Senior Congress leaders, Congress MLAs, NCP leaders, and civil society organisations assembled at Gandhi circle in Old Goa to lodge their protest, saying that the BJP-led Centre is scared of Gandhi’s “vociferous voice” on Adani issue.
They began the protest with a slogan of ‘hath se hath hum jodengey, nafrat ko ham todengey (hand in hand we will unite, we will break the hatred).
Rahul Gandhi was on Friday disqualified from Lok Sabha, a day after a Surat court sentenced him to two years imprisonment in a 2019 criminal defamation case over his Modi surname and thieves remark.
Speaking at the protest venue, the party’s state unit chief Amit Patkar said the agitation is against the Centre’s suppression of the opposition’s voice.
“BJP has proved that our country is heading towards dictatorship. With the conviction and disqualification of our national leader, the BJP has showed that no person should dare to speak against Lalit Modi, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi who looted our country”, he said.
Referring to the disqualification move against Rahul Gandhi for posing questions for which he sought answers from the Prime Minister on who invested `20,000 crore in Adani shell firms, the state Congress chief said Modi was scared and had no answers on the Adani issue, and so he took action against Rahul Gandhi. “We appeal to the BJP workers too. Tomorrow, the time will come for you like Rahul Gandhi,” he said.
Speaking further, leader of opposition and Congress legislator Yuri Alemao slammed the BJP’s “vindictive politics” and vowed to fight against it politically. He urged Goans and other political parties to unite and pull down the BJP-led government to save the Constitution.
“What did Rahul Gandhi speak, and what did he highlight, and what were his answers to the prime minister and the ruling dispensation? He wanted answers which they could not face. As a result, Rahul Gandhi was made to face such consequences”, he said.
Terming the decision of the Modi government to disqualify Rahul Gandhi as anti-democratic, Alemao said the same BJP government in the state could not decide the fate of defected MLAs till date, while at the Centre the BJP disqualified Rahul Gandhi within 24 hours, which is anti-democratic.
“We all have gathered here for satyagraha, which is the power which had forced the British to leave India. The Modi government will also have to bow down,” he added.
NCP president Jose Philip warned opposition parties to not be mute spectators ,and join together leaving aside all political differences in order to save democracy.
“It is not guaranteed if all the opposition parties will be spared. Today the Congress leader is targeted, so tomorrow it will be us in their list. BJP has disqualified the leader of masses who raised issues affecting the common man,” Philip said.
“I must say Portuguese rule was better than the BJP rule. The ruling party is practicing hooliganism. Dictatorship is going on in Goa. Nobody says anything about the coal that is blown in the houses in Vasco. If you raise your voice, it is suppressed. Where has inflation reached? For the people, not allowing Rahul Gandhi to speak is suppressing the voice of the people. Other parties should remember that unless they come together, they will not succeed”, he said.
Accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of behaving like the dictator Salazar, Congress Mahila wing’s chief Beena Naik said that dictatorship has begun in the country.