Congress President Sonia Gandhi and a galaxy of party leaders read out the Preamble of the Constitution and vowed to protect it as they held a five-hour "Satyagraha for Unity" at Mahatma Gandhi's memorial Raj Ghat on Monday to show solidarity with youths agitating against the new citizenship law and the proposed NRC.
In a brief address, Rahul Gandhi accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of trying to spread hatred and break the country, but warned that the people will not let him attack the Constitution and suppress the "voice of Bharat Mata".
Former prime minister Manmohan Singh, A K Antony, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Ahmed Patel, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Mallikarjun Kharge, Anand Sharma, Ashok Gehlot and Kamal Nath were among senior Congress leaders who were part of the demonstration demanding protection of the rights of people as enshrined in the Constitution.
The Congress' protest came a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at a rally here that his government has not yet held any deliberation on a pan-India National Register of Citizens, comments seen as a departure from Home Minister Amit Shah's assertion in Parliament on rolling it out.
"What our enemies could not do, is now being done by Narendra Modi to stall the country's progress. He wants to divide the country," Rahul Gandhi alleged while addressing the gathering at the end of the protest.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Gehlot and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Nath said their governments will not implement the new citizenship law as it was against the basic principles of the Constitution. Chhattisgarh minister T S Singh Deo, on behalf of Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, too said the lehislation will not be implemented in his state.
Several parts of India witnessed widespread protests by students, youths, civil society groups and political parties in the last few days over the controversial citizenship act and against any pan-India NRC.
In a hard-hitting attack on Modi, Rahul said: "You could not provide jobs to youths, but destroyed the economy. That is why you are hiding behind hate...
"The country will not let you attack Constitution, suppress voice of 'Bharat Mata'."