Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 25: A strong protest demonstration was held in Jammu city by the Congress party, including the Youth Congress, Mahila Congress and other frontal wings, along with DCC Urban and Rural, against the arrest of Indian Youth Congress (IYC) president Udey Bhanu Chib. The party termed the arrest “illegal, unjustified and dictatorial” and demanded his immediate release.
A large number of Congress leaders and workers from the PCC, Youth Congress, Mahila Congress, frontal wings and district units marched through Shaheedi Chowk, Residency Road and Raghunath Bazaar raising slogans against the BJP and the Modi Government. Carrying Congress and Youth Congress flags and placards condemning the arrest of the IYC president, the protesters attempted to move forward but had a brief scuffle with police during the march.
The protest was led by working president Raman Bhalla and joined by former ministers, former legislators and senior leaders of the party and its frontal organizations. Prominent among those present were Mula Ram, Yogesh Sawhney, GM Saroori, Ravinder Sharma, Thakur Balbir Singh, Ved Mahajan, Neeraj Kundan, Vinod Sharma, Manmohan Singh, Maan Singh, TS Tony, Shammema Raina, Shashi Sharma, Satish Sharma, Amrit Bali, Inderjeet Kour, Ajay Lakhotra, Sanjeev Panda, Neeraj Gupta, Iqbal Dar, Bhavishya Sudan, Vijyant Pathania, Latish Sharma, Sohit Sharma, Pawan Bhagat, Parveen Singh, Mangal Baral, Kuldeep Sharma, Baldev Raj Bhagat, Anirudh Sawhney, Ranjodh Singh, Parveen Akhtar, Rakesh Sharma, Ravinder Chouhan, Amina Kalyan, Sangeeta, Daljeet Kour, Geeta Devi, Meena Devi, Reenu Anjeelna and Veena.
Addressing the gathering, Raman Bhalla lashed out at the Modi Government, alleging that an undeclared Emergency-like situation prevailed in the country where peaceful protesters were being booked under serious charges to keep them in jail. He said the arrest of Udey Bhanu Chib reflected the misuse of power to suppress democratic voices and dissent.
Bhalla said IYC activists had held a peaceful protest to express the anger of the youth and farmers over issues affecting their livelihoods and accused the Centre of succumbing to pressure from US President Donald Trump. He asserted that attempts to create fear by curbing peaceful protests would not be tolerated and that the Congress, under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi, would continue to fight to safeguard democracy and the rights of common people.
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