‘SIR cost many their votes… fight has just begun’: Praise, support for Rahul-led rally

“I had come here to join the march. It was grand. I haven’t seen anything of this scale yet … That’s how a party organises a protest … so many people,” Priyank Rawat, an IT
professional from Gurugram, said on Sunday.

He was referring to the ‘Chalo Dilli’ march, led by Congress MP and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi in demand of the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. It began from the Minto Road-Connaught Place junction and ended at Ramlila Maidan, where a rally of the INDIA bloc was scheduled.

Rahul, along with other leaders of the INDIA bloc, travelled in an open-top vehicle to Ramlila Maidan.

Rawat, who has taken part in “every anti-SIR protest in Delhi held so far”, said he did not go to Ramlila Maidan. “That’s more like a rally. We were here, at the march. I am going home now,” he said.

Young protesters at march

The groups of young protesters who just came to be part of the march, could not be seen carrying flags of any political outfit unlike the people who later assembled at Ramlila Maidan and who belonged to the INDIA bloc parties.

Traffic snarls

Traffic had come to a standstill during the march, with Minto Road and other stretches having witnessed long snarls.

Buses ferrying supporters were also stopped near Rani Jhansi Road, following which several of them walked for over two kms to attend the rally at the ground.

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By 3:30 pm, however, just when Rahul finished his speech, the ground was left with several empty chairs — with many even stuck in mud.

As other INDIA bloc leaders, including RJD’s Tejaswi Yadav, SP’s Akhilesh Yadav, took to the stage, cheers from supporters still filled the air.

Protesters subsequently started streaming out of the ground. Workers of various parties, who had arrived in the Capital from other states to join the rally, were headed home.

A Telangana Congress worker, Laxman, clad in a white kurta-pyjama, said around 15,000 people had come from Telangana and Hyderabad.

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“We arrived in the morning by train to show our support. We won’t leave the city unless Rahul Gandhi asks us to. The SIR process cost so many people their votes. The fight has just started,” he says.

Another contingent led by one Binoi Shah, arrived from Keralam. Shah said thousands of people arrived from the south-Indian state.

“We reached Delhi by train around 6 am. We were at the Kerala Bhavan… then joined Rahul Gandhi’s march. He (Rahul) had talked about 10 lakh people. We can bring 15 lakh,” he said, slowly losing his voice.

Another 1,000-odd Congress workers travelled from Punjab and Haryana through the Dwarka Expressway, in buses on Sunday, a supporter said. Some of them, along with supporters from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, stood holding a giant roll of paper bearing details of many of the 13 crore voters whose names were allegedly struck off the electoral rolls during the SIR exercise.

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It was after the leaders and supporters left that traffic eased in Connaught Place and shops started to open.