Rahul Gandhi shared Instagram reels of his protest against Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar using Led Zeppelin and Michael Jackson tracks. The clips got 2.7 million views in three hours. Gandhi and other opposition leaders marched to the Election Commission office, where police detained many protesters during the tense day.
Rahul Gandhi's protest against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar did not end when Delhi Police cleared Akashvani Bhavan. It continued on Instagram -- first to the sound of Led Zeppelin, then to Michael Jackson's "Beat It". The Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha shared a reel showing himself standing atop a yellow Delhi Police barricade, hands on hips, as INDIA bloc protesters gathered below. Set to a Led Zeppelin track, the clip quickly gathered momentum online, crossing 2.7 million views within about three hours of being posted. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Rahul Gandhi (@rahulgandhi) A second reel followed, this time set to Jackson's "Beat It", extending Gandhi's use of globally recognisable pop soundtracks to frame the day's confrontation with police and the Election Commission. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Rahul Gandhi (@rahulgandhi) The protest began earlier in the day, when Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee led opposition MPs from Parliament towards the Election Commission office. The march was aimed at pressing demands for Kumar's resignation over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. The opposition has repeatedly alleged that the EC's conduct benefits the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party -- charges the commission has not publicly accepted. The demands gained urgency after The Indian Express reported last month that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had objected to key decisions related to the voter re-verification exercise, including changes to Form 6 and the centralisation of ECINET, the software used to manage electoral rolls. The march soon ran into a heavy police presence. Dozens of protesters were detained and taken away in buses, while Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were also briefly detained. In an unexpected twist, Priyanka was seated in a police bus outside Akashvani Bhavan when Rahul, who was about to board, looked towards her. The two then walked past police personnel into the All India Radio headquarters compound, a move that appeared to catch the police off guard. The respite did not last long. Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi was later seen being dragged by police personnel from Akashvani Bhawan as they began clearing the premises.