Cong activists stage protest

Congress activists staging protest outside party office in Jammu (L) and Srinagar (R). -Excelsior pics by Rakesh/Sajjad Dar
Congress activists staging protest outside party office in Jammu (L) and Srinagar (R). -Excelsior pics by Rakesh/Sajjad Dar

Rejection of Rahul’s plea by HC

Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU/SRINAGAR, July 7: Shortly after Gujarat High Court rejected Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s plea seeking stay on conviction in connection with the Modi surname defamation case, today, a large number of Congress workers assembled at PCC headquarters, Shahidi Chowk in Jammu, and held a peaceful protest.

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The peaceful protestors raised slogans ” Lok Tantar Pe Hamla Band Karo, Rahul Gandhi Aage Barho Hum Tumhare Sath Hain” besides in favour of Sonia Gandhi, Congress president Kharge, Priyanka Gandhi and others and declared that they shall not allow the Constitution and the democracy to be weakened.
Speaking on the occasion, senior Congress leader Thakur Balwan Singh (ex-MLA) lashed out at the Modi Govt for its vendetta politics and the BJP for serious assault on the constitution and the democracy during its regime. The disqualification of Rahul Gandhi is an attempt to gag the voice of the opposition in the Parliament but the BJP should know that the voice of people and the voice of Congress party and Rahul Gandhi cannot be suppressed and it will be raised more vociferously in the streets of the country, the “judgment only redoubles party’s resolve to pursue the matter further,” he added.
Singh launched a scathing attack on the Modi Govt for its anti-democratic mind set and its continuous attempts to intimidate and threaten the opposition leaders especially the Congress party. He said that Rahul Gandhi has been disqualified in view of his direct questions to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Adani issue.
He further said that the assets of the country are on sale and the money of common man is being misused for promotion of crony capitalism and the voice of opposition is being crushed through various arm twisting methods.
The protest was joined by Tirlok Singh Bajwa (Ex-MP), Bushan Dogra, Ved Mahajan (Ex-MLC), Vinod Sharma, Manmohan Singh, Pranav Shagotra, Kapil Singh Chib, Pawan Raina, Shashi Sharma, Narinder Gupta, Narinder Sharma, Sanjeev Panda, Rajvir Singh, Yogesh Verma, Gurmeet Singh, Thomas Khokhar, David Babloo, Varinder Manhas and others.
In Srinagar, Congress leaders and workers also conveyed solidarity to Rahul Gandhi while expressing dismay over the Gujarat High Court’s verdict of dismissal of application seeking stay on conviction with the defamation case filed against Gandhi.
Soon after the Gujarat High Court Verdict senior Congress leaders and workers assembled at Srinagar Party office to convey solidarity to Rahul Gandhi while terming his disqualification a part of big conspiracy of BJP after failing to answer his (RGs’) questions in Parliament.
The participants said that the verdict was on expected lines terming it a black day for the country.
Senior Congress leader Tariq Hameed Karra, Peerzada Mohd Sayeed, Ghulam Nabi Monga, Mohd Anwar Bhat, Abdul Gandi Khan, Jagdev Jagga, Frontal organizations, DCC presidents of Kashmir province, Block presidents, DDC/BDC/ Councilors of the Party, prominent Workers and others participated in the peaceful protest.
Talking to media Karra said the way country is being run it is expected that anything obnoxious can be done by the present Govt anything unconstitutional and arbitrary, anything which goes against the spirit of democracy and anything which is contrary to the very foundation of the constitution can be expected from the present dispensation though the verdict was on the expected lines that we are here to convey our solidarity to Rahul Gandhi, so all our segments may it be youth, parent body and other frontal organizations that we are here in solidarity with Rahul Gandhi.
Congress workers and leaders led by JKPCC working president Raman Bhalla today staged a protest against the Gujarat High Court’s refusal to stay party leader Rahul Gandhi conviction in a criminal defamation case over his “Modi surname” remark at various locations including Khour. The protest was organized by Satish Sharma.
Addressing protesters, Bhalla said the High Court’s verdict was “unfortunate” and was a “murder of the democracy”.”We have to understand why Rahul Gandhi is being targeted. He is raising the issues of common people and he is against the BJP. The Modi Government is dividing people and Rahul Gandhi wants to bring them together,” Bhalla said. He further alleged that the Modi Government disqualified Gandhi by raising fake cases against him after he questioned connections between Modi and the Adani Group.
Prominent among those present on the occasion include Refugee Cell Congress Chairman Amrit Bali, NSUI president Ajay Lakhotra, BDC president Praveen Kumar, Prabhu Singh, Block president Prem Singh, Rajveer Singh, Kapil Singh, Pawan Bhagat and others. Similar protests were held at various other places across JKUT.