Even as the three-day session of Gujarat assembly began in Gandhinagar on Monday, hundreds of Congress workers and leaders were detained as they staged a march towards the assembly building in protest against state government's policies. They were later released.
The assembly area was converted into a fortress and police resorted to the use of water canons to disperse the agitators. In the tussle between the police and the protesters, kurta of state Congress president Amit Chavda was torn. The protesters removed the barricades set up by police and also pelted stones on police vehicles.
The Congress was protesting against the state government's move of merging hundreds of primary schools and the failure to give 100 per cent crop insurance to farmers. The opposition has been also demanding that the recently held examination for the posts of clerks (non-secretariat) be canceled.
Following alleged irregularities, including paper leak, thousands of aspirants from across the state have been demanding that the examination be canceled. The government, however, has set up a special investigation team to probe the alleged irregularities.
The manner in which the Congress carried out the protest suggested that the party was trying to drive home the message that it is ready to take on the BJP in the municipal corporation elections, due in 2020, and later on the state assembly elections scheduled for 2022.
The Congress is upbeat with the results of assembly bypolls held two months ago. The party had succeeded in winning three out of the six assembly seats.
