Scores of the Congress workers under the senior leaders today marched towards the state Legislative Assembly building to lay siege to it in protest against the "misrule" of the state BJP government, but were stopped by the police.
The massive protest seems to have galvanised the faction-ridden party unit as veterans like Kamal Nath, Digvijay Singh, besides Jyotiraditya Scindia, Arun Yadav, Suresh Pachouri put up a united show, being viewed as a morale-booster for the state Congress which has been out of power since 2003.
During his address, the Indian Youth Congress (IYC) national president Amrinder Singh Brar (Raja Brar) appealed to the seniors, especially Kamal Nath, to lead the party workers from front to gherao the Assembly.
However, the police foiled their plan. As soon as Brar's speech ended, the police personnel asked the Congress leaders on dais to go at the back of the stage where they could court arrest.
Meanwhile, the Congress leaders split themselves with former Union ministers Kamal Nath, Scindia and Pachouri going to the back of stage while Digvijay, state unit president Arun Yadav and former opposition leader Ajay Singh went to the front to lead the protest.
When the police was leading the Congress leaders inside the bus, suddenly Nath decided to climb the bus and reached its rooftop. Later, Scindia and Pachouri followed him and firmly put themselves up on its roof.
As the bus started moving towards Nehru Nagar Police Lines, a stretch of 5 kms, scores of the party workers started following it on foot and in vehicles, which resulted in a massive snarl.
Senior leaders were seen protecting themselves from low hanging electricity wires and tree branches at many places, but they constantly cheered the party workers.
When the bus reached Police Lines its stairs got damaged and a policeman removed it, which kind of trapped the Congress leaders on the bus roof.
After the bus stopped at the Police Line ground, some police personnel brought a barricade and placed it vertically against the front side windscreen of the bus, following which Scindia first came down and later helped elderly Nath.
Later, Digvijay, his MLA son Jaivardhan Singh, and Ajay Singh also reached the ground and sat there for a brief period.
While the Congress claimed that Scindia and Nath were arrested forcibly and put in a van, the police said the duo courted arrest. "The Congress leaders have courted arrest," said the Additional Superintendent of Police, Rajesh Singh Chandel.
Due to the protest, traffic in the state capital was disrupted in many areas.
A senior leader pegged the number of Congress workers who took part in the protest at one lakh.
Meanwhile, skirmishes were reported between the police and Congress workers in various parts of the state capital, but police denied the reports.
"The protest passed off peacefully," said Bhopal DIG Raman Singh Sikarwar.
"Neither we restored to lathicharge nor we used water
cannon," the police officer said when asked about the claim made by some Congress workers that they were cane charged at some places.
He said around 1,540 protesters courted arrest, but were released later.
Dismissing the claim made by the state Congress' chief spokesman KK Mishra that one lakh protesters assembled today, the DIG said their number stood between 10,000 to 12,000.
Mishra alleged the government stopped 3500 buses carrying the party workers on the border of the district in its bid to scuttle the protest.
Around 1200 buses containing our workers that had entered the city were stopped midway to ensure that they don't reach the protest venue, he claimed.
Meanwhile, in their speeches during the protest, the Congress leaders attacked the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government on a string of issues.
Digvijay alleged Chouhan and his family members were involved in Vyapam scam (a multi-crore admission and recruitment racket) and in the illegal sand mining.
"I openly challenge Chouhan to file a defamation suit against me if what I have said publicly is false," he said.
Scindia alleged four out of eleven people arrested recently in connection with the ISI spying racket in MP were associated with the BJP. "These people were seen with Chouhan and other BJP leaders in pictures," he claimed.
The Guna MP further said, "the BJP government didn't even spare Kumbh mela which is the major festival of Hindus and siphoned off Rs 1500 crore while organising it last year."
Nath said the "spontaneous" gathering of thousands of protesters here to gherao the Assembly building shows that "days of Chouhan's rule in which he has ruined MP as CM, are numbered."
Other speakers also launched a diatribe against Chouhan, saying his government is the failure on all fronts and that law and order is in dire straits across the state.
Stating that illegal mining is prevalent in the state, they said sand mining is rampant in Narmada river which is the ifeline of the state.
Congress will win the state Assembly elections, due next year, as the common people are fed up with the "BJP misrule", they said.
(Reopens BES31)
Meanwhile, the ruling BJP termed the Congress protest as a "flop show" and maintained the main Opposition party remains a divided house and the display of unity was "fake".
"Congress failed to bring the workers together despite the presence of its top leaders. It was a flop show. Congress is a divided house as witnessed during today's protest," State BJP President Nandkumar Singh Chauhan said.
"The party leaders were sitting together on the stage but later they went to different directions instead of courting arrest together. The leaders of different camps of state Congress were seen pushing each other on the stage," he alleged.
Reacting to the Congress allegations against the Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, he said the Opposition party leaders were suffering from "Shivraj phobia".
All their anti-Government demonstrations in the past have failed, the BJP leader said.
