'Want to show Modi..': Opposition's 'black clothes' protest on Rahul Gandhi

After the Opposition showed up in black attires for the Parliament session on Monday, days after Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification as Lok Sabha MP, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge explained that the protest signalled the ‘end of democracy in PM Modi’s India’. Speaking to news agency ANI, he also accused the Modi government of influencing investigating agencies and independent bodies.

“Why are we here in black clothes? We want to show that PM Modi is ending democracy in the country. He first finished autonomous bodies, then they put up their own govt everywhere by threatening those who had won polls. Then they used ED, CBI to bend those who didn't bow,” Kharge said.

Mentioning the ‘lightning speed’ at which Gandhi was qualified, the Congress leader called it a black day for democracy and asserted that the opposition will not back down.

Both Houses of Parliament, which reconvened on Monday were adjourned within minutes amid continued ruckus over Gandhi’s controversial disqualification on Friday after a Surat court conviction in the Modi surname defamation case, and the Adani issue.

Stepping up its demand for a Joint Parliamentary Probe into the Adani row, the Congress chief continued, “...Adani has become a tall figure. Why is the Govt silent? He earned money illegally….Why are you scared of constituting a JPC? You have a majority. You (BJP) will have more members in the JPC or will have your allies.”

Earlier, the opposition held a joint protest march from parliament to Vijay Chowk raising slogans against the government and met to chalk out a strategy to take forward the Adani issue and Gandhi's disqualification.

Trinamool Congress, which has so far maintained a distance from a ‘united opposition against BJP’, also made a surprise entry at the protests on Monday.