The Thane Rabodi police on Saturday detained ten Youth Congress activists outside the BJP office in Thane as they began their protest against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) over retaliatory ED action against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. The police said that they initiated the action in order to avoid any untoward incidents in the area.
Earlier on Thursday (June 16), the Youth Congress activists tried to burn the effigy of PM Modi outside the Thane Congress office but the police, before any such protest, detained the Thane district youth Congress president Ashish Giri.
Santosh Ghatekar, senior police inspector of Rabodi police station said, "On Thursday, the Youth Congress units of Thane were planning to burn the effigy of PM Modi, they were also shouting slogans against BJP for retaliatory action on Rahul Gandhi by ED, but we intervened before the protest and detained Youth Congress president of Thane Ashish Giri along with one more office bearers and took them to the police station. On Saturday, the Youth Congress activists were planning the protest outside the BJP office in Thane but we did not permit it and detained two office-bearers in the morning while later in the afternoon, further detained 10 party workers. All the activists were freed in the evening. The police security has also been beefed up at the BJP office."
Ashish Giri, Youth Congress president, Thane said, "We were planning a protest against the BJP government's dictatorship. Why are there rules applicable only to the opposition and not to the BJP leaders and party workers? The Youth Congress will agitate in the coming days if BJP's dictatorship continues. The ED action on our leader Rahul Gandhi is a retaliatory act by BJP. We thought of protesting peacefully but were detained by Rabodi police station officials in the morning."
