After CJP's national stir call, Rahul Gandhi & other MPs visit Gandhi Smriti

Within hours of the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) announcing a nationwide protest on Friday, the Congress leadership, led by Rahul Gandhi, along with Opposition MPs, on Thursday night reached Gandhi Smriti here, paid tributes at Mahatma Gandhi's memorial and expressed solidarity with agitating students through a candlelight march.

The developments further intensified the protests against the Centre while also underscoring parallel Opposition mobilisation - the CJP's agitation at Jantar Mantar, backed fully by the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP, and the Congress' separate outreach. The move came on a day when both the AAP and fasting activist Sonam Wangchuk's wife questioned the Congress' protest strategy, particularly its demonstration outside the Prime Minister's residence on Tuesday.

By 6 pm on Thursday, Congress MPs had assembled at Rahul Gandhi's residence, where two buses were arranged to take them to Gandhi Smriti after the party dropped its initial plan to march to India Gate. MPs from some INDIA bloc allies also joined them. Police initially objected to the march but later allowed the leaders to proceed to Gandhi Smriti, where they paid tributes to the Father of the Nation.


Before leaving Gandhi Smriti, Rahul Gandhi told journalists: "Our leader Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated here. Today, the Modi government is assassinating democracy, brutalising students and beating students. The Opposition is not going to accept this. We are with the students...."

While the Congress leadership has extended support to the students, the party's top leaders, particularly the Gandhis, have so far not visited the Jantar Mantar protest venue, even as leaders of several INDIA bloc allies have joined the CJP platform.