Your barricades, not our protest causing inconvenience: Priyanka Gandhi snaps at cop

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday shot back at a senior Delhi Police officer who asked her to end their protest and move elsewhere to avoid causing inconvenience to the public, saying the disruption was being caused by the police barricading and sealing off large parts of Delhi.

The police officer approached Priyanka Gandhi while she was staging a sit-in protest along with Rahul Gandhi inside the Akashvani premises, adjacent to the Election Commission office. He suggested that the Congress leaders move to another location where their protest would not cause inconvenience to the public.

Priyanka Gandhi responded,

"If inconvenience is being caused to the public, it is because you have barricaded the entire area," she said.

The Congress MP added, "If anyone in this country wants to protest against something, they have the right to do so. This is the normal procedure in a democracy. This is the normal procedure under the Constitution of this country. You are the soldiers of that Constitution. You are fighting for the Constitution, not for those sitting in power."

"For the past few days, ever since the protests were announced, not just our protests, but those by students as well, you have barricaded the entire Delhi. You have disrupted traffic across Delhi. So who is causing the inconvenience? We, the protesters? You are the ones doing it," she said, as the officer continued to mention public inconvenience.

Rahul Gandhi also questioned the police action, pointing out that Metro services had also been shut due to the protests.

"If you want us to quietly stop the protest and leave, tell us. Wherever we sit, let us sit. But we will sit. And if there is too much inconvenience here, then take us away from here, or get us an appointment with Gyanesh ji," Rahul Gandhi told the officer.

Delhi witnessed dramatic scenes during the Congress's day-long protest demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

The march began around 10 am when Rahul Gandhi, along with hundreds of Opposition MPs and supporters, marched from Parliament towards the Election Commission office. The march was stopped near Akashwani Bhavan, around 200 metres from the poll panel's office, following which several Opposition MPs sat on the road in protest. Several leaders, including Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and TMC leaders Abhishek Banerjee and Derek O'Brien, were detained and later released.

Rahul Gandhi later climbed atop multi-layered steel barricades, waved the Tricolour and then slipped through the police cordon into the All India Radio premises. He remained inside the compound for several hours in a standoff with the police, while Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and other Congress leaders joined him in a sit-in. The unusual scenes drew crowds, with some AIR staff taking selfies with Rahul Gandhi and others gathering on the terrace to watch the unfolding drama.

Despite repeated requests from the police to end the protest and clear the premises, the Congress leaders continued their demonstration inside the Akashwani compound.