By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 21 Jul: Hundreds of Congress leaders and workers staged a protest here, today, against interrogation of Congress Interim President Sonia Gandhi by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in New Delhi. Congressmen gheraoed the ED office in Dehradun and, when they tried to enter it, they had a minor altercation with the police. The police took a large number of Congress leaders into custody. About 100 Congress workers, including Congress State President Karan Mahra and Leader of Opposition Yashpal Arya, were arrested by the police near the ED office.
However, after some time, the police released everyone on personal bonds.
At around 11.30 a.m., Congress workers marched in the form of a procession from Rajiv Bhawan towards the ED office at Cross Road. After some time, everyone sat on dharna outside the office. Addressing the party workers and the media, State Congress President Karan Mahra and Leader of Opposition Yashpal Arya claimed that the Modi Government is harassing the opposition by misusing investigative agencies. The Congress is strongly raising its voice against the anti-people policies of the Modi Government and the BJP is scared of getting exposed. Therefore, a conspiracy has been hatched by the BJP Government to harass Congress leaders by filing baseless cases against them and summoning them to various offices for interrogation.
Former Leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh said that Congress is not afraid of anyone. It would keep exposing the government for its anti-people policies. BJP ought to understand that it now stands exposed. Congress would always carry on its struggle to protect the truth and the interests of the countrymen. Former state president Ganesh Godiyal said that, in its tenure of eight years, BJP has led the country to its worst time ever. For the sake of a few industrialist friends, the BJP has put the interests of crores of people in the country at risk. He said that, now, the Congress is exposing the anti-people face of the BJP and, scared by this, the central investigative agencies are being misused. When the Congress was not afraid of the British, what could make it scared of these“black Britishers”, he sought to ask.
At around one p.m., the police took many leaders including Mahra, Arya and Singh into custody from the protest site. They were later released from the police lines.
Among those present at the dharna and were arrested included Women Congress President Jyoti Rautela, Deputy Leader of the Legislative Party Bhuvan Kapri, MLAs Anupama Rawat, Sumit Hridayesh, Gopal Rana, Furqan Ahmed, Harish Dhami, Ravi Bahadur, former MPs Pradeep Tamta, Mahendra Pal, former MLAs Ranjit Rawat, Rajkumar, Vijaypal Sajwan, General Secretary, Organisation, Vijay Saraswat, Surendra Kumar, Youth Congress President Sumittar Bhullar and Garima Dasauni.
