Kerala: UDF, Congress organise marches across Wayanad constituency

WAYANAD: Members of the United Democratic Front (UDF) on Sunday took out a torch march in Thiruvambady in Kerala's Wayanad constituency against the Central government in the wake of the disqualification of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi from Lok Sabha who was representing the seat in Parliament.

Several protest marches are being organised by Congress and UDF across the constituency against Rahul Gandhi's disqualification.

In Kozhikode, Muslim Youth League also conducted a light march. The procession inaugurated by IUML state president Sayyid Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal was carried out with the slogan 'democracy in danger, support Rahul'.

MYL is the youth wing of the major political party in Kerala, IUML. The Congress on Sunday began a day-long nationwide "Sankalp Satyagraha" in support of Rahul Gandhi following his disqualification from the Lok Sabha.

Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, senior leaders KC Venugopal, P Chidambaram and Salman Khurshid were among the party's top brass taking part in the satyagraha at Rajghat. Congress organised various protests in several states including Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.

In Karnataka also, Youth Congress Workers hold a 'Mashal March' in Bengaluru against the Central government in the wake of the disqualification of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi from Lok Sabha. However, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra from Delhi Raj Ghat trained her guns on the ruling BJP and vowed to keep fighting for the people at the party's Sankalap Satyagraha to protest against the move to disqualify her brother and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

"Who thinks that they can silence us by scaring and humiliating us? Listen, we will not stop, I will see to it that the hard-earned money of the public is not being looted and given to few people," Priyanka Gandhi said in a hard-hitting attack on the ruling party at the Centre. "It was my family (Nehru-Gandhi) who nurtured the democracy of this country with their blood," she said.

Rahul Gandhi, on Friday, was disqualified as a member of the Lok Sabha, a day after a Surat court sentenced him to two years imprisonment in a defamation case filed against him over his 'Modi surname' remark. The decision came pertaining to his remark made in April 2019, where he had said "how come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname" at a Lok Sabha election rally at Kolar in Karnataka. The court approved Gandhi's bail on a surety and stayed the sentence for 30 days to allow him to approach the higher courts.

"My brother went to PM Modi and hugged him in the Parliament and said he has no hatred for you. We might have different ideologies but we do not have the ideology of hatred," the Congress General Secretary said at Raj Ghat. "You (BJP) talk about 'Pariwarvaad', I want to ask who was Lord Ram. Was he 'Pariwarvaadi', or were the Pandavas 'Pariwarvaadi' just because they fought for the culture of their family? Should we be ashamed because our family members fought for the people of the country?" she said.