MP: Youth Congress workers stop train in protest against Rahul Gandhi's disqualification from Lok Sabha

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh) [India], March 24 : Madhya Pradesh Youth Congress workers stopped a train protesting against Rahul Gandhi's disqualification from Lok Sabha at RKamlapati station in Bhopal on Friday.

The protest was carried out under the direction of MP Youth Congress president Vikrant Bhuria. After the protest, Bhuria released a video message about his protest. He can be heard saying, "Today, Madhya Pradesh Youth Congress has started a revolution by stopping the Dakshin Express at RKamlapati station in protest against the dictatorial manner in which Rahul Gandhi's membership was cancelled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)."

"This is the beginning of the movement today and we will fight from the road to the Parliament. We will not tolerate the dictatorship of the government, of the BJP and their efforts to save Ad and to suppress the public. The youth of Madhya Pradesh and the country are with Rahul Gandhi," he added in the video.

The youth wing of the Congress Party, National Students Union of India (NSUI) also took out a candle march against Rahul Gandhi disqualified from the lower house from Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) office to Board office square in the state capital.

Rahul Gandhi was disqualified as a member of the Lower House earlier on Friday, a day after his conviction by the Surat court in a criminal defamation case.

The Surat District Court pronounced the verdict on Thursday for a remark using the 'Modi surname' at a rally in Karnataka's Kolar, ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Rahul Gandhi was sentenced for two years of imprisonment. He was later granted bail by the court and his sentence suspended for 30 days to let him appeal the decision.

Earlier, MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan said, "Whosoever does a wrong thing that person has to face the consequences for their wrongdoing. What Rahul Gandhi has done, he will have to face the consequences for that."

Besides, Congress national spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi and senior leader Jairam Ramesh lashed out at the Centre over the disqualification of the former national party president while addressing a press conference at the party headquarters in the national capital.

"The issue before us is political, more than it is legal. It is a political issue because it signifies the systematic, repetitive emasculation of democratic institutions by the ruling party. It signifies the strangulation of democracy itself. We know that defamation is an exception to free speech, but over the last several years, we have had repeated examples of unthinkable assaults on freedom of speech, more importantly, freedom after speech. We all know that Rahul Gandhi has been speaking fearlessly inside and outside Parliament. He is paying a price for it," Singhvi said.

"This government is rattled because he clearly speaks with facts and figures on demonetisation. Be it the supposed clean chit to China, or the GST, he is consistently aggressive and open in his questioning. Therefore this government is finding new techniques of throttling his voice," Ramesh alleged.