New Delhi:
Leaders of Opposition parties including Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Akhilesh Yadav, Mamata Banerjee, MA Baby and Tejashwi Yadav, among a dozen others, came to central Delhi’s crowded Ramlila Maidan in their massive protest targeting the Election Commission over alleged electoral roll irregularities. At the same time, leaders of the ruling BJP are holding rival marches in the national capital, raising the 1984 anti-Sikh riots to attack the Congress.
Rahul Gandhi is likely to address the crowds at 4 pm.
Amid all this, traders have raised concerns over festival season earnings getting hit badly due to traffic congestion in the busy central Delhi shopping district.
The Opposition INDIA bloc’s “Chalo Delhi” march to Ramlila Maidan calls for the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The Opposition’s protest site is located in a crowded neighbourhood with many wholesale traders having outlets nearby, who are worried about their businesses.
A lot of cadre mobilisation has been happening on the ground. Apart from the Congress, which has brought its cadre from Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and also Haryana, there are Samajwadi Party and RJD leaders who have brought with them their own cadres. But a bulk of the protest backbone is from the Left cadre.
The Ramlila Maidan rally is scheduled to end at 5 pm as per the permission given by the authorities. But there is no certainty whether there would be a “surprise” element when that hour arrives, sources said.
The rally which is going on now follows an Opposition programme yesterday in which Kharge moved a symbolic resolution containing six allegations against the CEC. It accused Kumar of conspiring to influence elections, deleting 13.2 crore voters, changing Form 6 without parliamentary oversight and taking control of electoral rolls through the ECINET.
The resolution alleged that the two other election commissioners had been excluded from key decisions, alluding to a report by the Indian Express newspaper.
The BJP has dismissed the exercise as “melodrama”. Union minister JP Nadda said the Opposition’s march was a disrespect for democracy and a “foolish, orchestrated drama”. “It’s a conspiracy to create anarchy. What’s their political model? The public knows the drama, that the rally is a political theatre,” Nadda said.
One group that’s not attending is the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) whose founder Abhijeet Dipke met Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee in Delhi yesterday and thanked her for supporting the outfit’s youth-led protests. He, however, said the CJP would retain its independent identity and not join the Sunday protest by the opposition parties.
“I just came to say thank you to Didi because the way she supported our first Jantar Mantar movement, she was always so strongly with the youth movement. When Saurav and Ashutosh were arrested by the Delhi Police, even then Didi stood with us very firmly,” he said.
Nearly 10,000 police and paramilitary personnel including Delhi Police, Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF), CRPF and Rapid Action Force (RAF) have been deployed across central and New Delhi. At least 4,000 personnel are at Ramlila Maidan and along the route from Minto Bridge to the rally venue.
Heavy security arrangements and multi-layered barricading are in place around Connaught Place, Jantar Mantar, Bhagwan Das Road and areas near the Supreme Court and the Election Commission of India’s office.
Traffic is being regulated and diversions are being made in parts of central Delhi from 10 am to 5 pm. Commuters have been asked to plan their journeys in advance. “We have covered the entire area with 200 to 250 CCTV cameras. The organisers also have their own control room and we are working together to ensure the security of this entire area,” senior police officer Rohit Rajbir said.
Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal, who announced the November 1 rally last month, called the campaign “Chalo Dilli, Vote Bachao, Desh Bachao”, referring to the theme of the protest against the CEC as a “campaign to stop electoral manipulation to save the country.”
“Thirteen crore names have been deleted from electoral rolls. There is a massive fraud happening in voter rolls in state after state,” Venugopal alleged, adding Gandhi was “fearlessly raising questions” and holding those in power “accountable”.
Journalist and former AAP leader Ashutosh told NDTV they have “absolutely no problem with a protest of any kind” and that India “got independence because of the Satyagraha demonstration and peaceful protests”. “I have always been in favour of that. Protest should be there in a peaceful and nonviolent manner. Any protest which involves violence is not part of democracy,” he added.
The BJP is holding a separate march in west Delhi to remember those killed in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, with the party accusing the Congress of holding its rally on the anniversary of the violence. The BJP march from Hari Nagar bus depot to Tilak Nagar metro station saw in attendance Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, Minister of State Harsh Malhotra, HS Phoolka, Manjinder Singh Sirsa and BJP MP Bansuri Swaraj.
BJP MP Vikramjit Singh Sahney addressed the media with riot survivors at Gurdwara Shaheed Ganj Sahib, while survivors and families of those killed in the 1984 anti-Sikh joined the protest.
Another set of people protesting against the INDIA bloc rally are traders in the national capital. They fear road closures and congestion will keep buyers away during the festive shopping period just before Diwali.
Automotive Parts Merchant Association president Vinay Narang said traders supported the right to protest but opposed the venue and timing. “We are not aligned with any political party, nor are we against democratic protests. But the timing and the venue are completely wrong,” he said.
Narang said Chandni Chowk, Sadar Bazaar, Daryaganj, Mori Gate and Kashmere Gate were located within 3 km of the protest site. “Whenever such rallies take place, outstation traders avoid visiting Delhi for nearly three days before and after due to fear and disruption,” he said.
The association’s vice-president, Ravinder Singh Kohli, said daily-wage workers would be hit first. “The worst hit are the daily-wage earners, coolies, porters and cart-pullers who depend on daily earnings of Rs 200-300 to feed their families,” he said.
APMA general secretary Dharampal Ratra estimated that traders could lose more than Rs 2,000.
Gandhi however rejected the traders’ concerns and asked rally participants to shop in Delhi. “Protest, march, hold rallies, and along with that, do a little shopping too. It will benefit the traders,” he said. “I know the rally will not harm the traders. The BJP is scared, that’s why it’s spreading rumours.”
Source: www.ndtv.com
