Youth of India, we're with you: Rahul Gandhi's message as cops crack down on CJP protest

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday launched a sharp attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar amid a major crackdown on protests against the Election Commission in Delhi.

In a post on X, Gandhi said he had been fighting Modi and the RSS for more than a decade and claimed that the space around the government was "closing". He named Modi, Shah, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, Kumar and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval as the "villains of this story".

"The core characteristic of these people is cowardice," Gandhi said.

He also challenged the government to deploy more police and arrest Opposition leaders and young protesters, saying such action would not stop the movement.

Mr. Modi, do whatever you want. Call out all the police: 10,000, 20,000, 50,000, whatever you want. Arrest all the leaders. Arrest all the young people. Arrest us all," Gandhi said, adding that the protesters were "not going to back down."

Gandhi said the Opposition would defend the Constitution and "protect the voice of the Indian people". He also urged young Indians to continue protesting.

"Youth of India, I am proud of you. Keep protesting. We are standing with you. We are going to ensure that this regime and the people who have attacked our Constitution are defeated," he concluded.

PRIYANKA GANDHI ATTACKS DELHI RESTRICTIONS

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also criticised the security measures imposed in Delhi during the protests.

In a post on X, she claimed that 254 MPs had been "roughed up" and detained illegally and accused authorities of taking similar action against protesters from Opposition parties.

She said the national capital had effectively been placed under siege, with barricades, restrictions on trains and metro services, internet curbs and checkpoints across the city.

Priyanka Gandhi also accused security forces of detaining young men and women who were exercising their constitutional right to protest.

She questioned whether the crackdown and restrictions indicated that the government was concerned about allegations of election manipulation and demands for accountability from the Election Commission.

"India is not a democracy anymore. It is a dictatorship being run by Mr. Narendra Modi and Mr. Amit Shah," she said.

She further accused those supporting the government in actions that, in her view, undermine democratic institutions of "committing treason against the nation".

MAMATA, KEJRIWAL AMONG OPPOSITION LEADERS DETAINED

The Congress leaders' remarks came as Delhi Police mounted a major security operation to prevent a protest organised by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) against CEC Gyanesh Kumar.

Former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal were among several Opposition leaders detained on Saturday.

Several other leaders, including TMC MPs Derek O'Brien and Dola Sen, former Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, CPI(M) MPs John Brittas and KN Balagopal, and AAP leaders Sanjay Singh, Saurabh Bharadwaj and Durgesh Pathak, were also detained.

More than 2,000 people were detained during the crackdown, including YouTuber Dhruv Rathee, as authorities sought to prevent the CJP protest from gathering at Jantar Mantar.

Mamata Banerjee later said she and other leaders had started a dharna at Dwarka North police station.

She claimed that they were taken away in a prison van and driven around for nearly two hours. She also said she would remain in Delhi and join an INDIA bloc march planned for Monday.

The detentions and restrictions have intensified the Opposition's campaign against Kumar and the Election Commission, with Opposition parties demanding his removal and questioning the conduct of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.