New Delhi: As Congress chief Rahul Gandhi led a midnight march on Thursday to protest for justice in Kathua and Unnao rape cases, his sister Priyanka Gandhi was pushed and shoved by some in a chaotic crowd, prompting her to ask people to think about the cause for which they had assembled.
"Those who are here to push around people must go home. Now please maintain calm and walk silently," an angry Priyanka told the crowd. "Think about the cause for which you have come here," she said.
Her husband Robert Vadra, who was also present in the protest march to the India Gate, said the country needs a change where women could feel safe.
A huge crowd gathered for the march, led by Gandhi, against the rapes of minor girls in Unnao, Uttar Pradesh, and Kathua Jammu and Kashmir, where slogans were raised against the Modi government.
Announcing the march, Gandhi had tweeted on Thursday evening, "Like millions of Indians my heart hurts tonight. India simply cannot continue to treat its women the way it does."
Earlier in the day, Gandhi had expressed anguish and shock on the brutal rape and murder of an eight-year-old in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua, and attacked the BJP government in UP for failing to act against its MLA, who is an accused in the Unnao rape case of a 17-year-old girl.
"How can anyone protect the culprits of such evil? What happened at #Kathua is a crime against humanity. It cannot go unpunished. What have we become if we allow politics to interfere with such unimaginable brutality perpetrated on an innocent child?" he said.
The Congress leaders present at the protest march to the India Gate, which in the past has seen a huge protest in the Nirbhaya rape case, included Ahmed Patel, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Salman Khurshid, Ashok Gehlot, Ajay Maken, Sushmita Dev, Haroon Yusuf, Randeep Surjewala and Ambika Soni.
Azad said the Modi government was sleeping and those facing the biggest threat were the daughters of the country during the current regime.
Several Congress leaders also poked fun at the Modi government's Beti Bachao slogan, saying the daughters were not safe in the country.
DPCC President Ajay Maken said, "Atrocities are being committed against women in the country and the government is sleeping. The BJP is not only involved directly, it is also protesting in favour of the culprits and stopping law enforcement agencies from doing their job. It is a sad state of affairs."
(With PTI inputs)
Comments
0 comment