Farmers’ protest: Delhi Police detains Priyanka Gandhi, other Congress leaders

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra detained by Delhi Police on December 24, 2020

Delhi Police detained Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and other party leaders on December 24 for violating Section 144 imposed around the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

The contingent, which also included Congress’ Members of Parliament (MPs), was marching towards the Rashtrapati Bhavan to submit a memorandum to President Ram Nath Kovind seeking his intervention in the farm reform laws issue. The memorandum reportedly contains two crore signatures.

They were taken to the Mandir Marg Police Station in New Delhi.

"Any dissent against this government is classified as having elements of terror. We are undertaking this march to voice our support for the farmers," Gandhi said as Congress’ march was stopped by police.

“We are living in a democracy and they are elected MPs (Members of Parliament). They have the right to meet the President and they should be allowed. What is the problem with that? The government is not ready to listen to voices of lakhs of farmers camping at [Delhi’s] borders,” Gandhi told reporters.

Gandhi said “it is a sin to use the kind of names they (BJP leaders and supporters) used for farmers.”

“If the government is calling them anti-nationals, then the government is a sinner,” news agency ANI quoted Gandhi as saying.

“Sometimes they say we are so weak that we do not qualify as Opposition and sometimes, they say that we are so powerful that we have made lakhs of farmers camp at [Delhi’s] border for a month. They should first decide what we are,” she said.

Follow LIVE updates of farmers' protest here

Thousands of farmers, especially from Punjab and Haryana, are staging a sit-in protest along Delhi borders. The protest started on November 26.

The farmers are demanding a complete rollback of the new farm reform laws and a guarantee on the Minimum Support Price (MSP) system being retained.

Multiple rounds of talks between the Centre and the farmers’ union leaders have ended in a stalemate. Protesting farmers fear that the new laws will dismantle the MSP system and corporatise farming.

The Congress has backed the farmers’ protest and has repeatedly called on the Centre to repeal the laws under contention. The Centre and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have maintained that these laws will benefit farmers.

Meanwhile, addressing reporters outside the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Rahul Gandhi said his party had submitted the memorandum to the president. “If the prime minister does not withdraw these laws, it is not just the BJP, but also the people and the country that will suffer,” Rahul Gandhi said.

"I told the President that these farm laws are anti-farmer. The country has seen that farmers have stood up against these laws," Rahul Gandhi said.

#WATCH | There is no democracy in India. It can be in your imagination, but not in reality: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Delhi Police taking party leaders into custody during their march to Rashtrapati Bhavan pic.twitter.com/7oYfUDEkEM

— ANI (@ANI) December 24, 2020

“There are millions of people who live off agriculture. There are labourers and small traders too. If we destroy the system, these millions of people will have nothing to do. You will create massive disruption and pain in the country,” he added.

The former Congress president said that anyone who challenges the government is being termed as a terrorist.