opposition leaders stopped by police on way to ED office

New Delhi: Delhi Police on Wednesday erected barricades and stopped leaders of several opposition parties marching towards the ED office here from Parliament House demanding a JPC probe into the Adani issue, saying prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPC were in place in the area.

The opposition leaders were stopped near Vijay Chowk in Lutyens' Delhi. Police made regular announcements using loudspeakers and urged the protesting MPs to vacate the area as CrPC Section 144, which prohibits the assembly of four or more people in an area, was in effect. When the leaders could not move past the barricade, they called off their march and returned to Parliament House. A senior police officer said earlier in the day that the police had made adequate security arrangements outside the ED office in view of the protest march.

The leaders wanted to hand over a complaint to the Enforcement Directorate on the Adani-Hindenburg issue. Before starting their march, the leaders met in the office of Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge in Parliament House complex to chalk out a joint strategy on the issue. The protest march began around 12.30 pm from Parliament House and MPs from several opposition parties took part in it. However, it was soon stopped by police. The opposition has been demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the Adani-Hindenburg issue and has been stalling proceedings of Parliament over their demand.

Rajya Sabha proceedings were disrupted for the third day in a row on Wednesday amid uproar over the BJP's demand for Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's apology for his "democracy under attack" remark made in London. When the Upper House resumed for the afternoon session following an adjournment earlier in the day, Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar gave the floor to Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge. However, Kharge who said the opposition has been repeatedly demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the Adani issue and sought to raise the matter of the opposition parties' march to ED office, could not complete his remark as the BJP members shouted Gandhi must apologise for his remarks discrediting the country. Dhankhar then asked Leader of the House Piyush Goyal to control his team even as the sloganeering continued.

India's democracy is not in peril but the Congress party has been brought to "political perish" by the people for the kind of behaviour its leader Rahul Gandhi exhibited overseas, Union minister Smriti Irani said on Wednesday as the BJP stepped up the ante against the opposition leader over his recent remarks in the UK. Gandhi's grudge with Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken the shape of a grudge with India, she charged, demanding that the Wayanad MP of the Congress apologise to Parliament for his remarks. During his interactions in the UK recently, Gandhi alleged that the structures of Indian democracy are under attack and there is a "full-scale assault" on the country's institutions.