New Delhi : Opposition MPs wore black clothing to stage a protest against the government within the Parliament premises. The demonstration included the participation of key figures such as Rahul Gandhi, Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, and Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra addressed the protest, stating, “The Education budget is Rs 1.4 lakh crores, but you are waving off Rs 16 lakh crore loans for Adani and Ambani. Students have a genuine struggle and are asking for change. Paper leaks are happening repeatedly. There is nothing undemocratic with peaceful protest, but what is happening with students and in Parliament is undemocratic.”
On the subject of the Congress protest outside Lok Kalyan Marg the previous day and the detention of leaders by police, Congress chief and Rajya Sabha Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge said, “I said yesterday itself that this is not a democratic govt. They are functioning like dictatorship. They do not respect MPs. They harass even those who protest as per rules. BJP-RSS volunteers work among Police without badges. Terrorising students and Congress leaders is what they do indirectly…If you try to crush our senior leaders, lakhs of people will stand up. You will not be able to control them then.”
He added, “We are not going to be scared, we will continue to fight. You will regret what you did to Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi…We will show them that Congress party and INDIA bloc will continue to fight.”
Earlier on the same day, Congress MP Pawan Khera told ANI that all Opposition MPs wore black as a mark of “protest against what they have done to the students of this country in the capital city of Delhi, protest against the insistence on Dharmendra Pradhan continuing on his position, protest against the way this Govt has responded to the students’ unrest.”
On Tuesday, Congress MPs Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, alongside several other leaders, were detained by Delhi Police during a protest at Lok Kalyan Marg and were subsequently released.
