Rahul Gandhi climbs barricades, waves Tricolour during Oppn march to ECI: 'We are going to destroy them'

Congress MP and leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday climbed police barricades during the opposition INDIA bloc's protest march to the Election Commission of India on Tuesday.

Rahul, along with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and party MP Priyanka Gandhi, joined the march from the Parliament House complex. Speaking to reporters from inside the Akashvani complex, where the Opposition MPs were staging a sit-in, the Lok Sabha LoP said the INDIA bloc was not only "going to counter" the poll body but would "destroy them."

More than 300 Opposition MPs participated in the march, Rahul said, with some of them, including Priyanka Gandhi, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and Trinamool Congress MPs Abhishek Banerjee and Derek O'Brien, also being briefly detained.

The protest came amid Opposition allegations against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the special intensive revision (SIR) exercise being conducted by the Election Commission.

After being prevented by the police to proceed further, the Opposition MPs sat on the road in protest. Soon after, Rahul Gandhi and TMC's Abhishek Banerjee climbed on police barricades. The Lok Sabha LoP was also seen waving a Tricolour from atop the barricades, even as the protesters continued to shout slogans.

Meanwhile, Priyanka Gandhi was taken to a waiting bus, seemingly to be detained. However, she was soon seen alighting from the bus, and then joined Rahul and other leaders at the Akashvani gate, PTI news agency reported. The Opposition leaders then entered the Akashvani Bhawan premises from the reception gate, despite being stopped by the police, and were later seen sitting inside. The Akashvani complex is barely 100 metres away from the Election Commission office.

"We are not only countering them, we are going to destroy them. I have no interest in what BJP says. I am standing here to save the democracy of India. A few hours ago, 300 Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs came here with me. They too are trying to save democracy in the country," he told reporters, according to ANI news agency.

"Amit Shah, Narendra Modi, Mohan Bhagwat and Gyanesh Kumar... these people have destroyed the country's democratic system. The entire country believes this.

The youth of the country believe and understand this," Rahul said, while claiming that even the police had said the same. He added that he was saying this "with careful consideration", and claimed that action would be taken "against all of them."