Congress protests against IYC president’s arrest, seeks immediate release

Jammu, Feb 25: Senior leaders and workers of Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) and its frontal organisations on Wednesday held a protest demonstration in Jammu city against the arrest of Indian Youth Congress (IYC) president Uday Bhanu Chib in the union capital.

The protesting leaders termed Chib’s arrest as “illegal, unjustified and dictatorial action of BJP government.” They demanded immediate release of Chib, a son of the soil.

A large number of Congress leaders and workers of JKPCC, Youth Congress, Mahila congress, frontal wings, DCC urban and rural, carrying placards and raising slogans against Modi government and BJP, marched through Shaheedi Chowk, Residency Road, Raghunath Bazar, where they had a scuffle with Police as they tried to proceed.

Led by working president Raman Bhalla and other senior leaders, former ministers, legislators and leaders of frontal wings, senior functionaries of PCC, DCC, blocks joined the protest denouncing Uday’s arrest and described it as “brazen misuse of power.”

Mula Ram, Yogesh Sawhney, GM Saroori, Ravinder Sharma, Balbir Singh, Ved Mahajan, Neeraj Kundan, Vinod Sharma, Manmohan Singh, IYC secretary Maan Singh, T S Tony were among the prominent Congress leaders, who participated in the protest.

JKPCC working president Raman Bhalla lashed out at the Modi government for, what he alleged, “undeclared emergency in the country where peaceful protestors were booked under heinous offences to keep in jail.”

Bhalla alleged that IYC activists held a peaceful protest expressing anger of youth and countrymen against the Prime Minister, who he alleged, was “working under pressure of US President Donald Trump for obvious reasons putting the livelihoods of youth and farmers at stake.”

“Such acts (arrests) are aimed at creating fear. It will not be tolerated and Congress will oppose and save democracy led by Rahul Gandhi who is raising the voice of youth and common people,” Bhalla said.