New Delhi: The Congress on Tuesday strongly condemned the arrest of its youth wing president Uday Bhanu Chib and other workers of the outfit, with former party chief Rahul Gandhi alleging that the action was reflective of “dictatorial tendencies and cowardice”.
The opposition party also alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is desperate to divert attention from “uncomfortable truths” about him and his regime that the people have recognised.
Gandhi hit out at the government over the arrest of Chib and other IYC members, saying it is reflective of “dictatorial tendencies and cowardice”.
The former Congress president said he is proud of his fellow members of the Youth Congress, who have fearlessly raised their voices in national interest against the “compromised PM”.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge claimed that the youth today are desperate for jobs, and the country’s environment has deteriorated so much that there is immense anger among the people against Modi.
“He (Modi) surrendered to Trump. He accepted all his conditions, leaving the entire country embarrassed. Instead of working for the welfare and support of our farmers, discussions were held to harm them,” Kharge said.
People thought Modi was talking to Trump in the best interests of the country, but in reality, Trump is enslaving us and pushing us towards bonded labour, he said, adding that all this is Modi’s doing.
“Congress is not afraid, nor is it cowardly. Modi himself is a coward. Due to fear, he cannot even defend his policies in Parliament. Therefore, he is trying to intimidate us, trying to intimidate our youth, trying to intimidate our young leaders. This will not work. I condemn it,” the Congress chief said.
“We will make whatever sacrifices are necessary to protect democracy and the Constitution of our country. We will continue to fight and continue our struggle against those who have mortgaged our country,” he told reporters here.
In a post in Hindi on X, Gandhi said peaceful protest is the Congress’ historical heritage.
“It is in our blood and a democratic right of every Indian,” the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said.
Gandhi alleged that national interests have been compromised in the trade deal with the United States.
This agreement will harm our farmers and textile industry and hand over our data to the US, he claimed.
“The arrest of Youth Congress President Uday Bhanu Chib and other IYC members for exposing this truth to the nation is reflective of dictatorial tendencies and cowardice,” Gandhi said.
“The Congress Party and I stand firmly with our fellow members. Showing the mirror of truth to power is not a crime, it is patriotism. Don’t be afraid – the truth and the Constitution are with us,” Gandhi said, using the hashtag ‘I Stand With Youth Congress’.
Chib was arrested by Delhi Police in connection with the shirtless protest staged by a group of youth wing members at the AI Impact Summit here last week, officials said on Tuesday.
Police have also stepped up security across key locations in the capital in anticipation of possible protests following Chib’s arrest, which took the total number of people held in the case to eight.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said the party will continue exposing the government for the “blatant lies it propagates” and used the acronym “MODI – Murder of Democracy in India” to take a swipe at the PM.
He said the Congress will continue exposing this government for the “blatant lies it propagates” and will unflinchingly fight this “murder of democracy”.
“The INC condemns in the strongest possible terms the brazenly illegal arrest of the IYC President and Youth Congress workers for what was clearly a peaceful and legitimate protest,” Ramesh said on X “The PM is clearly rattled by the disclosures in the Epstein files. He is also facing the mounting anger of farmers due to his betrayal of their interests and his surrender to President Trump on the trade deal,” Ramesh claimed.
“This is nothing but the politics of harassment. The PM is desperate to divert attention away from the uncomfortable truths about him and his regime that the people of our country have recognised,” he said.
Ramesh said those who are afraid intimidate and asserted that the Congress will not be deterred.
“It will continue exposing this government for the blatant lies it propagates. The INC will unflinchingly fight this Murder of Democracy in India,” he said.
Asked about Chib’s arrest, Congress’ media and publicity department head Pawan Khera told PTI Videos, “It is the duty of the opposition to protest in a democracy but a dictator will never understand this.” “If you hear the speech of that dictator in Meerut recently you will get to know that the word democracy does not exist in his dictionary,” Khera said, in a swipe at the prime minister.
Chib as well as other colleagues are being arrested from various parts of the country, Khera, who is in Bhopal for the party’s Kisan Maha Chaupal against the India-US interim trade deal, said, “This shows that Narendra Modi is scared of dissent and questions being asked of him. Narendra Modi is emerging as the most cowardly Prime Minister in the world. He is being blackmailed, he is a coward, he is scared,” Khera alleged.
“It has been the Congress’ history that no matter how much oppression we face, we will continue to raise issues of the people and will keep fighting with ‘Ahimsa’,” he said.
In a post on X, the Indian Youth Congress said, “You can arrest a man.You cannot arrest a movement. The arrest of IYC President @UdayBhanuIYC and our workers for raising their voice is a direct attack on democratic rights.” “We strongly condemn this blatant misuse of power. Protest is not a crime. The fight has just begun,” the IYC said.
(Disclaimer: This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)
