Congress in black attire holds protest in Parliament, march to Rashtrapati Bhavan foiled

Wearing black clothes, Congress MPs, including former party chief Rahul Gandhi, staged a protest in the Parliament House complex on Friday and took out a march towards the Rashtrapati Bhawan as part of their nationwide stir against price rise, the GST hike on essential items and unemployment.

The protesting MPs of the opposition party raised slogans against the government demanding that the GST hike on essential items be withdrawn, with party chief Sonia Gandhi standing with the women MPs of the party holding a banner outside gate number 1 of Parliament.

The protesters were, however, stopped by the Delhi Police and not allowed to proceed towards the Rashtrapati Bhawan. Sonia Gandhi did not take part in the march. The other MPs were detained by police at Vijay Chowk.

Rahul Gandhi, senior party leaders K C Venugopal, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and Gaurav Gogoi were detained and taken away in a police bus from Vijay Chowk.

Speaking to the media at Vijay Chowk, Rahul Gandhi said, "We are here to raise the issue of price rise." He also said "democracy is being murdered".

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Asked if the MPs were manhandled, he answered in the affirmative.

"Our job is to resist these forces, our job is to ensure that democracy in India is protected, our job is to raise the issues of people. We are doing that," the former Congress chief said.

He alleged that some of the party MPs were even "beaten up" by police.