New Delhi, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi on Wednesday led a march to protest the Delhi violence from the party headquarters to 30 January Marg where Mahatma Gandhi was martyred and then towards the residence of Home Minister Amit Shah.
However, they were stopped at the Janpath Section 200 meters ahead of their destination.
The plan was first to pay tribute to Mahatma Gandhi and to go ahead towards the Home Minister’s house to demand his resignation. But after they were stopped, she and the Congress activists sat on the road there for an an hour and pledged to maintain communal harmony
“Today we were holding a march to the residence of the Home Minister to demand his resignation, but, the police have stopped us. His residence is at quite a distance, but, the police is not allowing us to move forward,” Priyanka Gandhi told the workers.
“This is your city, and this city is being ruined by spreading riots. We have a centuries-old tradition of living together with peace and harmony. People come to this city in search of employment, in search of work and whosoever comes to this city, he is welcomed here. This is our city, but today fire and hatred are being stoked in the city,” she said.
“We are the workers of a party which brought freedom to the country. Today, it becomes our duty to spread the message of peace, maintain harmony and help those who are in pain. We should spread the message of love, peace and harmony where an atmosphere of grief and pain has spread its wings. We should spread the feeling of mutual brotherhood,” Gandhi added.
She said that they had gathered here because they want the resignation of the Home Minister. “It is the responsibility of the Home Minister to maintain peace in the capital of the country. This is the prime responsibility of the Government, but the Government has failed to deliver on this account. We want the Government to take action and make all out efforts to maintain peace,” she said.
“Those who have suffered losses, those who are being hospitalised and those whose houses have been burnt down should be given help and mutual harmony should be restored, this is our demand. This is my request to all of you that when you move out from here, visit those houses which are in pain and agony,” she told the workers.
Recalling her grandmother and late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, she said when riots had occurred at the time of Independence, Indira Gandhi “went from house to house, visiting Hindus’ houses, Muslims’ houses and tried to initiate mutual dialogue among them and to restore mutual harmony”.
“I have read that she had visited Chandni Chowk where she had invited just 10 families over a cup of tea … this included Hindu families, Muslim families and Christian families,” she said.
