Chaos at midnight over Rahul Gandhi’s program, Congressmen sat stubbornly in the parade ground

The controversy that started over permission for the parade ground for the ‘Students’ Echo’ program proposed by Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi in Dehradun on July 17 turned into a protest late on Tuesday night. Congress leaders and workers reached the parade ground at midnight and raised slogans against the state government and administration. Congress has decided to change the venue of the program.

Rahul Gandhi will now interact with students at Bannu School grounds instead of the parade ground. Congress has clarified that no change has been made in the date of the program. ‘Students’ Echo’ program will be organized on 17th July only. The party says that an alternative ground has been chosen for the safety of students and parents and to avoid any kind of chaos in the program.

Congress leaders decided to protest late in the night after the trucks carrying tents and other material for preparations for the program were not allowed entry into the parade ground. A large number of party workers, including state Congress president Ganesh Godiyal, former state president Pritam Singh, senior leader Harak Singh Rawat and state co-in-charge Manoj Yadav, reached the parade ground marching on foot from the Congress headquarters. Police force was already deployed around the ground. Due to this, there was an altercation between Congress leaders and the police. After this, the leaders and workers sat on a dharna in the parade ground and protested against the withdrawal of permission for the programme.

Permission stopped after taking fees- Congress
Ganesh Godiyal alleged that Congress had applied for the program on time and had deposited around Rs 1.77 lakh for the use of the parade ground. He claims that Congress was informed about the completion of the process of providing grounds for July 15, 16 and 17, but later permission for the program was stopped under pressure from the government. He said that the fixed fee was said to be around Rs 65 thousand, whereas Congress deposited much more amount than that. Despite this, trucks loaded with tents and other goods were not allowed to enter the grounds.

Municipal Commissioner Alok Pandey said that the conditions related to the permission and the necessary NOC were given to the Congress through a letter, but the relevant documents were not made available. The Municipal Corporation was waiting for the compliance of those documents and conditions. On the other hand, Congress State General Secretary Organization Rajendra Bhandari said that the party had applied to the Municipal Corporation and deposited the prescribed amount and preparations were started on the same basis.

Controversy arose due to government program
It was said that a government program related to Harela festival will be proposed on July 16 at the parade ground. At the administrative level, practical difficulties in providing grounds due to these programs were also cited. Questioning this logic, Congress said that in the name of the government event in the name of which Rahul Gandhi’s program was stopped, no major activity related to it was visible in the ground late at night.

More than 2.5 lakh registration claims
Congress claims that more than 2.5 lakh students from across the state have registered online for Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Students’ Echo’ program. The capacity of the parade ground is considered to be around 50 thousand people. In view of such a large number, questions were already being raised regarding crowd management and security of the program. The party says that in the program Rahul Gandhi will interact with the students of Uttarakhand on education, recruitment examinations, employment and other issues related to youth.

Program on 17th July at Bannu School Ground
Congress has now officially made it clear that Rahul Gandhi’s program will be organized on July 17 at Bannu School grounds. According to the party, the format of the program and the plan of interaction with the students will remain the same, only the venue has been changed.

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