Sonia, Cong top brass court arrest, freed

A combative Sonia Gandhi on Friday accused the Modi government of “murdering” democracy and unleashing a campaign of “baseless allegations” against the opposition, as top Congress leaders hit the streets and courted arrest near Parliament.

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi were taken into custody along with Sonia Gandhi, who predicted that the Government’s days were numbered the way it was functioning.

“Do not try to frighten or defame us... life has taught me to struggle, we have faced a lot of challenges. They don’t know what we are made of,” she said addressing the party’s ‘Save Democracy’ rally at Jantar Mantar here.

Asserting that her party will play role of an “alert” opposition with “full vigour” both inside and outside Parliament, she asked partymen to “unmask” the Modi Government.

Opposition leader in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, party leader in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge and others courted arrest at Parliament Street Police station after they were stopped from marching to Parliament. They were released after a short while.

Sonia said that the Congress would not succumb despite attempts “to browbeat the opposition and malign it”. Targeting Modi for his “Congress-mukt Bharat” campaign, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Congress is “soul of India”.

Launching a scathing attack on Modi and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, Rahul said only two people’s writ runs in the country and those who stand against them are targeted with “false allegations”. Senior Congress leaders and workers led by Sonia later marched towards Parliament street, where they courted arrest at the local police station. They were later released.