Police halt Rahul Gandhi's protest march for OROP to India Gate

New Delhi: Congress V-P Rahul Gandhi was detained for over two hours again on Thursday as he aggressively tried to engage the Modi government on the streets of national capital over the suicide of an ex-serviceman and “non-implementation” of OROP. The sub-text of the Congress agitation, to many, is also to try and neutralise the BJP-led Centre’s political play over the recent surgical strikes.

The massive and boisterous projection of Rahul Gandhi’s leadership by Congress, especially in the run-up to the Monday’s working committee meeting, has interestingly triggered speculations whether it is part of a move to install him as the party president, something most senior party leaders have been demanding for long.

The party leadership, however, maintains that the agitation is only meant to highlight “a human tragedy” and the NDA government’s “indifferent attitude” towards OROP. “Rahul Gandhi was let off at the Tughlaq Road police station. He was not detained but stopped from moving towards the India Gate from Jantar Mantar,” a senior police official told IANS.