‘One Protest,’ says Rahul after arrest of CJP members; oppn vows to ‘reclaim’ Jantar Mantar

NEW DELHI: In a first, Congress politician Rahul Gandhi came out in support of CJP following the arrest of two of its founders — Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka — for unfurling the Tricolour at Jantar Mantar — recently de-notified as a protest site — as the joint opposition slammed the police action against the activists.Opposition parties also vowed to “reclaim” Jantar Mantar, signalling that INDIA bloc is set to make the famous protest site’s de-notification as the next flash point in its confrontation with Modi govt.Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, CPI(ML)’s Dipankar Bhattacharya, CPM’s MA Baby, CPI’s D Raja, RJD’s Manoj Jha, TMC’s Sagarika Ghose and NCP (SP)’s Supriya Sule demanded an immediate release of the CJP members.

The defence of CJP functionaries followed Rahul’s “one protest” argument to dismiss the charge that Congress wants to keep a distance from the newbie.Meanwhile, with Rahul by their side, a group of student protestors Wednesday detailed the tales of “police brutality” on them during the protest to seek CEC Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation. They alleged cops accused them of being paid protesters and a nuisance. Ritu Barala, Athira, Dharmendra, Samarth, Ramit, Arjun along with NSUI president Vinod Jakhar, were part of the news conference Rahul addressed outside 10, Janpath.

Rahul said home minister Amit Shah is trying to confront the youth, the “voice of India”, but will fail. He urged the youth to collect video evidence of what they were facing at the hands of police and goons. Meanwhile, party general secretary KC Venugopal visited some injured NSUI workers at the Lady Hardinge Hospital.

Defending CJP, Rahul said, “Waving the tricolour at Jantar Mantar in a peaceful protest is not a crime.

Jailing youth for it is an act of cowardice...Jantar Mantar belongs to the people of India. We will reclaim it.” Dipankar said CJP’s protest was a symbolic act against the denotification order. “Jantar Mantar belongs to the people and the whole world knows it as Delhi’s most common protest site,” he argued.According to Ritu, whose video of fracas has gone viral, she and Athira were detained by police and a woman constable beat her black and blue, scratching her face, and even knocking her earring inside her ear that had to be pulled out in a hospital. Ritu said the constable kept taunting her “we will make you a leader”. Athira said she has suffered hearing loss in one ear because of the beatings.Ramit said he is a content creator who was detained by police at the instance of “RSS-Bajrang Dal goons”. Interestingly, Ramit pulled out a flute and played the Gandhian tune “Vaishnav jan te”.