Maharashtra Congress protests against BJP leader's threats to Rahul Gandhi

Mumbai, Sep 13 (IANS) The Maharashtra Congress on Friday carried out vociferous protests in different parts of the state against a Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader who issued death threats to Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi. 

Simultaneously, a Congress activist from Nagpur, Akash P. Taywade, lodged a police complaint against the BJP leader -- ex-MLA Tarvinder Singh Marwah -- for the 'death threats' he made against Rahul Gandhi.

Senior party leaders like Congress' Maharashtra unit president Nana F. Patole, Congress Legislative Party Leader Balasaheb Thorat, former Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, Working President M. Arif Naseem Khan, district party leaders and thousands of activists joined the protests in multiple districts.

The protesters, including a large number of youth and women, carried posters, placards and banners flaying Marwah for targeting Rahul Gandhi, and raised slogans condemning the BJP for not taking action against its party leader in a "serious matter".

The leaders slammed what they termed as a campaign launched by the BJP by selectively twisting Rahul Gandhi’s statements pertaining to quotas at an interaction during his US visit.

Denying the BJP's claims that the Congress wanted to do away with reservation, the leaders pointed out that in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections' Congress' Manifesto, the party said it had committed to raising the ceiling of quotas to ensure that benefits reached the largest segments of the deprived sections of society.

"Rahul Gandhi has repeatedly stressed the need to conduct a Caste Census to ascertain the backwardness among various sections of the population. However, the BJP is only interested in creating enmity in the name of castes and religions in the country," said Patole.

"Rahul Gandhi has never said that he would stop reservation. They are indulging in a fake narrative without verifying the truth. They are spreading falsehoods and then carrying out agitation. The people of the country know very well that the BJP is opposed to quotas and is anti-Constitution," said Thorat.

Taywade said that his complaint to the Nagpur Police would be forwarded to the Nagpur Commissioner of Police for further action as Marwah is based in Delhi and out of the state police's jurisdiction.

Simultaneously, the BJP also carried out a counter-protest against Rahul Gandhi in different parts of the state, and vowed that the ruling party would never strike down quotas.

Meanwhile, a Congress leader said in Mumbai that the protests against Marwah would continue for the second day in other parts of the state on Saturday.

--IANS

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