Congress stage protest outside Rajasthan Assembly over remarks on Indira Gandhi

India Today

Congress workers staged a protest outside the Rajasthan Assembly in Jaipur against Avinash Gehlot’s 'daadi' remark about former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

Transcript

00:00We're cutting across live to images coming in of protests that are broken out in Rajasthan.

00:12These are images of Congress workers staging a protest, in fact, against the BJP.

00:19This over, in fact, a controversy over BJP leaders' comment against Indira Gandhi.

00:25These are Congress MLAs, more than 30 of them, who are leading the protest by Congress workers

00:31at the Rajasthan Assembly.

00:34And this, in fact, after controversy had broken out over a comment that was made on former

00:40Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, leading to a showdown in the Assembly.

00:45And so six Congress MLAs were suspended.

00:49These are protests over that very issue, over the suspension.

00:53Now the entire controversy, if I were to break down the details for you, it started off with,

00:57in fact, the Rajasthan government minister, Avinash Gyalot, speaking about the government

01:01scheme, Lakpati Didi, in the Rajasthan Assembly on Friday.

01:05And the minister mentioned Aapki Dadi in an alleged reference to Indira Gandhi.

01:09This led to an uproar with the opposition leaders, asking the speaker to expunge the

01:13minister's remark.

01:14The speaker refused, and the opposition continued the uproar, leading to six Congress MLAs being

01:20suspended as well.

01:22And now these protests are by Congress workers over the suspension of their MLAs in the Assembly.

01:34In fact, the BJP minister in question here, who made that comment referring to Indira

01:38Gandhi as Aapki Dadi, has defended the comment, saying it was not done out of disrespect,

01:44that elderly in the family are addressed as Dadi, and so the Congress is making this a

01:49controversy for no reason.

01:52What this has led to, however, is, in fact, the Rajasthan Assembly witnessing a showdown

01:57both inside as well as outside the house.

02:00These are images of the protests that are taking place in Jaipur, outside the Assembly.

02:03Look at the kind of security also that has been deployed in that entire area, with barricades

02:09also being put up.

02:12Now it's expected that the likes of former Chief Minister Ashok Gyalot, former Deputy

02:15CM Sachin Pillai, could also be joining the protest, as they have, in fact, the Congress

02:22has upped the ante against the BJP government over the Dadi comment on Indira Gandhi.

02:34Obviously, it's playing out there outside the Assembly, as you see the Congress workers

02:38taking on the cops, trying to breach the barricades and make their way to the Assembly.

02:43And because the Assembly is in session, you're seeing the police stopping them outside the

02:48building and refusing to let these Congress workers move forward.

02:52A political showdown that's now led to a street war in Rajasthan.

02:57We'll, in fact, play out for you exactly what the Minister has said.

03:16We'll play out for you in just a bit exactly what the Minister has said, his comment referring

03:24to Indira Gandhi as Aapki Dadi, but the repercussion of that has been, in fact, huge for the BJP

03:30because you see the kind of protest here.

03:32One Congress worker attempting to breach the barricades being pulled down immediately by

03:37security personnel.

03:38Looks like it's only a matter of time before four of the Congress workers are actually

03:42also detained because of high security there due to the Assembly proceedings being underway.

03:48Six Congress MLAs for protesting inside the House were suspended.

03:52And that, in fact, has led to protests both inside and outside the Assembly.

03:57In the Assembly, we understand that Congress leaders have been on a dharna for more than

04:0250 hours protesting against the suspension and the comment that was made by the Minister

04:08here.

04:09Avinash Gyalot was the one who referred to Indira Gandhi as Aapki Dadi, which has got

04:13the Congress seeing red.

04:14They're demanding an apology from him.

04:16He, however, has refused to apologize, saying there's no disrespect in the comment, maintaining

04:21that the term Dadi is meant out of respect and it's not disrespectful whatsoever to

04:28the former Prime Minister.

04:41And as we get you all of these images coming in of the protests and the showdown, we will

04:47also connect with our reporter on the ground to show you what exactly is happening there

04:52and the kind of chaotic scenes playing out in Jaipur right now over that comment made

04:57by a BJP minister.

04:59Devankar is joining us with more details on this.

05:02Devankar, dramatic images on our screens of the Congress protest.

05:06We understand there are protests taking place right now as we speak, both inside and outside

05:10the Assembly.

05:11Absolutely.

05:12In fact, right now, outside the Assembly, you can see a large number of Congress MLAs,

05:21Congress leaders, Congress workers who have gathered out there to protest against the

05:26remark that was made about the former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

05:30And these workers, these leaders have gathered in large numbers to claim that, you know,

05:37till the time the suspension of six Congress MLAs is not revoked, till the time the BJP

05:42minister, Avinash Ghelot, who made those remarks about Indira Gandhi are not expunged from

05:49the proceedings of Rajasthan Assembly, till that time, this stalemate will continue.

05:54And right now, Akshita, you can see these Congress workers who have gathered about a

05:59kilometre away from the State Assembly in such large numbers.

06:03They were trying to break the barricades, the multilevel barricading that is there.

06:09In fact, there is a large police paraphernalia who has already arrived out here.

06:14And the clear instructions to senior police officers is that in no way these Congress

06:20workers, leaders should be allowed to be in the vicinity of the Rajasthan Assembly where

06:25the budget session was in motion.

06:28Right now, several of the Congress leaders are inside the State Assembly as well.

06:34In fact, six of the suspended Congress MLAs, including the Rajasthan Congress chief, Govind

06:39Singh Dottasra, are inside the State Assembly.

06:42In fact, leader of opposition, T.K. Ram Julli, apart from former Deputy Chief Minister Sachin

06:46Pilate, were also inside the State Assembly.

06:49But the scenes outside the State Assembly, about a kilometre away from there, is one

06:55of chaos, is one of confrontation and the Congress leaders and workers clearly wanting

07:00to move ahead but the amount of police, the number of police personnel who are out here

07:06clearly mean that it is no easy task.

07:09The police is not going to allow them to proceed anywhere within the vicinity of 100 metres

07:15from the State Assembly in such large numbers while they are protesting or trying to move

07:20towards the Assembly in an aggressive manner.

07:23Out here, several of the senior Congress leaders who have already arrived out here

07:27and I would want the camera person to pan the camera and show you the other side and

07:32show you how in such large numbers the police are out here, the multi-level barricading

07:38that is there.

07:39The camera person in fact is perched atop a wall so as to ensure that a bird's eye

07:45view can be provided to our viewers of this protest site where several of the Congress

07:51former ministers, leaders from different parts of different districts including Dosa,

07:56Bharatpur, Swaimadhopur, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer who have arrived out here and this is something

08:01which really has given the Congress a fresh breath of air because it feels that it has

08:07galvanised its cadre, it has tried to ensure that the workers have come together and they

08:12are now claiming that their former senior leaders such as the former Prime Minister

08:16Indira Gandhi, former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, these leaders who are greats of the

08:23country will not be denigrated by the VTB in such manner.

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