New Delhi: Congress chief Rahul Gandhi courted arrest on Friday after leading hundreds of his party's workers in a march to the CBI headquarters against CBI Director Alok Verma being divested of his powers and to demand an apology from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"Every institution in India being ruined by the prime minister," Gandhi said as the Congress took to the streets and marched from Dayal Singh College on Lodhi Road to the Central Bureau of Investigation headquarters about a kilometre away.
The Congress president courted arrest along with senior leaders such as Ashok Gehlot and Bhupinder Singh Hooda.
The Congress will not allow the "chowkidaar" (watchman) to do "chori" (theft), Gandhi said, reiterating his charges of corruption against the prime minister and saying he had "deposited Rs 30,000 crore in Anil Ambani's pocket".
There were no immediate reactions from the Prime Minister's Office on Gandhi's allegations. While Ambani has been consistently denying the charges, the BJP has accused Gandhi of manufacturing lies every day on the Rafale deal.
"The truth will come out," Gandhi said, adding that removing the CBI director will not impact the truth.
Addressing the gathering of Congress protesters earlier in the day, Gandhi accused Modi of destroying institutions such as the CBI, the Election Commission and the Enforcement Directorate.
Senior Congress leaders, including Gehlot, Ahmed Patel, Motilal Vora, Veerappa Moily and Anand Sharma, took part in the march that culminated in a demonstration ahead of the CBI headquarters.
Loktantrik Janata Dal leader Sharad Yadav, CPI leader D Raja and TMC's Nadimul Haque joined the protest.
Gandhi got on to a truck in front of the police barricades put up ahead of the CBI headquarters in the CGO complex to prevent the marchers from reaching the building.
The Congress' protests in the national capital were replicated in other parts of the country.
Castigating the Modi-led government over the ongoing feud in the Central Bureau of Investigation, former prime minister Manmohan Singh on Friday stated that the environment in the country's institutions like CBI is being vitiated.