Congress stages protest in Bhopal over Adani row, price rise, unemployment

Congress workers and leaders faced water cannons when they attempted to proceed to the Raj Bhavan in Bhopal to lay siege to it on Monday as part of a nationwide protest over the Adani-Hindenburg row and a host of other issues.

Additional deputy commissioner of police Shrutkirti Somvanshi told PTI that nearly 1,000 Congress members were taken into custody during the protest march, led by the party's state unit president Kamal Nath, in the Madhya Pradesh capital.

Kamal Nath and his party colleagues, including Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Govind Singh, former Union ministers Suresh Pachouri and Arun Yadav, ex-state ministers Ajay Singh, Sajjan Singh Verma, Jitu Patwari and Jaivardhan Singh marched towards the Raj Bhavan from Jawahar Chowk, some of them in a vehicle, to protest against the BJP governments' policies at the Centre and in Madhya Pradesh. Congress general secretary in-charge of Madhya Pradesh JP Agrawal also took part in the stir organised by the party across the country.

However, police did not allow the protesters to move towards the Raj Bhavan as they heavily barricaded a key road leading to the Governor house at Rangmahal Square and deployed a large number of personnel to maintain order.

When Congresspersons insisted on crossing the barricades, cops used water cannons to disperse them.

Nath claimed a large number of Congresspersons marching peacefully were cane-charged by the police and hit by water cannons, causing injuries to many of them.

However, the police did not confirm the claim.

A delegation of the Opposition party later handed over a memorandum containing their demands to Raj Bhavan officials present at the spot, a Congress leader said.

Additional deputy commissioner of police Somvanshi said when protesting Congresspersons insisted on moving towards the Raj Bhavan nearly 1,000 of them were taken into custody.

Earlier, addressing party workers and leaders at Jawahar Chowk, MPCC president Nath hit out at the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the Adani issue.

"The BJP government's policy of crony capitalism in favour of the Adani group has resulted in an economic crisis. Hard-earned savings of a large number of people belonging to poor and middle classes have turned risky,'' the former chief minister said.

The Congress agitation also highlighted several other matters, including rising inflation, growing unemployment, atrocities on Dalits, tribals, backward class members, minorities and crime against women.

People, including Madhya Pradesh residents, are facing a lot of problems due to rising inflation in the country and high rate of unemployment, he said.

Farmers are in distress, while cases of atrocities against Dalits, tribals, minorities and crimes against women are on the rise under the BJP rule, the Congress leader alleged. He claimed "the BJP and the RSS are hell-bent on misusing constitutional bodies." US-based firm Hindenburg Research has alleged manipulations and malpractices by Adani group companies. However, the ports-to-energy conglomerate has denied the allegations and asserted it was in full compliance with all regulatory norms.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)