Youth Congress protests against 'vendetta politics'

Accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of pursuing 'vendetta politics', the youth wing of the Indian National Congress led by Srinivas BV, held a demonstration in front of Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's residence in the national capital on Saturday.

The protesters, who were detained soon after they had launched the stir, alleged that the Centre is misusing central investigative agencies to target opposition political leaders. Later, they were released after a brief detention.

During the demonstration at 15 Safdarjang Road, the demonstrators displayed a person inside a cage which a party statement said was a bid to tell the ruling dispensation to stop caging constitutional institutions or using them as instruments of revenge.

"Today, when the government has absolutely failed in all spheres of governance, it has started misusing government bodies to seek petty vengeance on Indian National Congress. All the prominent leaders are being targeted by BJP, by misusing constitutional institutions like IT, CBI, ED and so on," said a statement from the Youth Congress.

"Sanctity and autonomy of these constitutional institutions is in grave danger. These institutions seem to have become mere puppets in hands of ruling government," the statement added.

"BJP needs to stop stooping down to such low levels, where they are picking on individuals and targeting them on their political inclinations. We live in the largest democracy of the world, where every individual has the freedom to choose his or her political path," said Srinivas.

Senior Congress leader and former Finance Minister P Chidambaram has been arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and was sent to judicial custody in Tihar Jail for his alleged involvement in the INX media case. Senior Congress leader from Karnataka DK Shivakumar is also languishing in jail for over a month now after being arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with a money laundering case.