Varanasi: Scores of Congress leaders and functionaries took out a protest march on Tuesday demanding immediate cancellation of the FIR lodged against party MP Rahul Gandhi in Haldwani district of Uttarakhand, alleging political vendetta by the BJP govt.Led by party district chief Rajeshwar Patel and city unit president Raghvendra Chaubey, the protest march began from Bageshwari Devi temple near Jaitpura police station and headed towards the Gandhi statue at Town Hall, Maidagin. Police stopped the march at Ausanganj crossing and accepted a memorandum addressed to the governor.Chaubey accused the BJP govt of double standards, alleging that no action had been taken even 20 days after the alleged insult of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and the reported “purification” of a rally venue. Congress said its struggle would continue until the FIR is withdrawn and issues of justice are addressed.Congress functionaries said Rahul speaks for Dalits, backward classes, tribals, the poor and other deprived sections and is being targeted for raising issues of social justice, democracy and constitutional rights.A case was registered against Rahul at Kotwali police station on Sunday night. The FIR — lodged under BNS sections 196 and 299, along with section 3(1)(q) of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 — followed a complaint by Amit Kumar, a resident of Jawahar Nagar Colony in Haldwani and member of Shriram Sena Dharmarth Seva Samiti.Kumar, who belongs to the SC community, alleged that Gandhi gave a caste angle to routine cleaning work carried out at Ramlila Maidan on Aug 11, characterising the clean-up as an act of untouchability and a criminal offence during a news conference in Delhi.
