Pralhad Joshi calls Rahul Gandhi’s police-station protest a ‘drama’ over Vande Mataram row

Union minister Pralhad Joshi has accused Rahul Gandhi of using his August 20 sit-in at Parliament Street police station to divert attention from the row over the Congress’s Vande Mataram resolution.

Gandhi, accompanied by Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and other Congress leaders, had demanded action on student protester Sahil Lochab’s complaint of injuries allegedly caused by pellet firing at Connaught Place on July 20. Lochab said he underwent surgery at AIIMS and that his vision remained affected.

Delhi Police registered an FIR on Friday under Sections 118 and 125 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, following the protest. Gandhi had questioned the delay in registering the complaint, while saying an AIIMS report showed more than 200 shells in Lochab’s body and three in his eye. The FIR followed a seven-hour Congress sit-in at the police station.

Joshi said the Congress Working Committee’s decision to sing only the first two stanzas of Vande Mataram at party events had drawn public criticism. He also questioned the timing of Gandhi’s visit, noting that Parliament had been adjourned sine die on August 13.