CHANDIGARH — Police detained several prominent Punjab Congress leaders and party workers on Tuesday during a protest in Chandigarh organized to oppose the First Information Report (FIR) registered against senior party leader Rahul Gandhi in connection with the Haldwani purification controversy. Demonstrators marched through designated security zones while raising slogans against the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government, demanding the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of the legal case.
Condemning the administrative crackdown and detention of party workers, Punjab Congress Working President Raj Kumar Verka alleged that security personnel used force and subjected Dalit community members to a lathi-charge during the peaceful demonstration. Terming the administrative action reflective of the ruling party’s hostility toward democratic dissent, Verka asserted that the Congress leadership would not be intimidated and would sustain its agitation against political victimisation across the region.
