CHENNAI: After a long time, the Congress unit in Tamil Nadu on Friday put up a united show with all faction leaders attending the demonstration against the arrest of party vice-president Rahul Gandhi when he tried to visit the Ram Manohar Lohia to meet the relatives of ex-serviceman Ram Kishan Grewal, who committed suicide for the one rank, one pension demand.
Former TNCC president E.V.K.S. Elangovan, who skipped the previous party programmes including the hunger protest on Cauvery, after his removal from the top post, took part in the protest along with the present chief S. Thirunavukkarasar. Former Union Minister P. Chidambaram’s son Karti Chidambaram, former TNCC presidents Kumari Anandan, Thangkabalu, M. Krishnasamy, senior leaders A. Chellakumar, besides national mahila Congress leader and actor Nagma, national spokesperson Khushbu and women's wing leaders D. Yasodha attended the agitation.
Thirunavukkarasar, who addressed the gathering, cited the presence of all the leaders and asserted that anyone who had doubts about Congress unity should have a look at the stage. Condemning the arrest of Rahul Gandhi, he said Rahul did not try to stage a protest and he only wanted to console the family of an ex-serviceman. He also said Rahul is a more popular leader than Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“Even Deve Gowda was a Prime Minister. Can anyone say he is a popular leader? Modi does not understand the problems of the nation. He is running an autocratic government and Congress will end the regime,” Thirunavukkarasar said. E.V.K.S. Elangovan said Rahul Gandhi is capable of ruling the country and it is in the third place in Tamil Nadu. He asked the party cadres not to lose heart as the party would have better time.
He also said Congress is the only party which had formed a government at the Centre and state on its own. Nagma accused the BJP government of acting against the people and democracy. Actor Khushbu said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had not fulfilled the demands of soldiers who were guarding the nation. She also accused Modi of suppressing democracy and added that democracy would be retrieved in the country, only if Rahul Gandhi is made the Prime Minister.
