Congress workers staged a protest outside the Rajasthan Assembly in Jaipur against Avinash Gehlot’s 'daadi' remark about former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
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00:00We're cutting across live to images coming in of protests that are broken out in Rajasthan.
00:12These are images of Congress workers staging a protest, in fact, against the BJP.
00:19This over, in fact, a controversy over BJP leaders' comment against Indira Gandhi.
00:25These are Congress MLAs, more than 30 of them, who are leading the protest by Congress workers
00:31at the Rajasthan Assembly.
00:34And this, in fact, after controversy had broken out over a comment that was made on former
00:40Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, leading to a showdown in the Assembly.
00:45And so six Congress MLAs were suspended.
00:49These are protests over that very issue, over the suspension.
00:53Now the entire controversy, if I were to break down the details for you, it started off with,
00:57in fact, the Rajasthan government minister, Avinash Gyalot, speaking about the government
01:01scheme, Lakpati Didi, in the Rajasthan Assembly on Friday.
01:05And the minister mentioned Aapki Dadi in an alleged reference to Indira Gandhi.
01:09This led to an uproar with the opposition leaders, asking the speaker to expunge the
01:13minister's remark.
01:14The speaker refused, and the opposition continued the uproar, leading to six Congress MLAs being
01:20suspended as well.
01:22And now these protests are by Congress workers over the suspension of their MLAs in the Assembly.
01:34In fact, the BJP minister in question here, who made that comment referring to Indira
01:38Gandhi as Aapki Dadi, has defended the comment, saying it was not done out of disrespect,
01:44that elderly in the family are addressed as Dadi, and so the Congress is making this a
01:49controversy for no reason.
01:52What this has led to, however, is, in fact, the Rajasthan Assembly witnessing a showdown
01:57both inside as well as outside the house.
02:00These are images of the protests that are taking place in Jaipur, outside the Assembly.
02:03Look at the kind of security also that has been deployed in that entire area, with barricades
02:09also being put up.
02:12Now it's expected that the likes of former Chief Minister Ashok Gyalot, former Deputy
02:15CM Sachin Pillai, could also be joining the protest, as they have, in fact, the Congress
02:22has upped the ante against the BJP government over the Dadi comment on Indira Gandhi.
02:34Obviously, it's playing out there outside the Assembly, as you see the Congress workers
02:38taking on the cops, trying to breach the barricades and make their way to the Assembly.
02:43And because the Assembly is in session, you're seeing the police stopping them outside the
02:48building and refusing to let these Congress workers move forward.
02:52A political showdown that's now led to a street war in Rajasthan.
02:57We'll, in fact, play out for you exactly what the Minister has said.
03:16We'll play out for you in just a bit exactly what the Minister has said, his comment referring
03:24to Indira Gandhi as Aapki Dadi, but the repercussion of that has been, in fact, huge for the BJP
03:30because you see the kind of protest here.
03:32One Congress worker attempting to breach the barricades being pulled down immediately by
03:37security personnel.
03:38Looks like it's only a matter of time before four of the Congress workers are actually
03:42also detained because of high security there due to the Assembly proceedings being underway.
03:48Six Congress MLAs for protesting inside the House were suspended.
03:52And that, in fact, has led to protests both inside and outside the Assembly.
03:57In the Assembly, we understand that Congress leaders have been on a dharna for more than
04:0250 hours protesting against the suspension and the comment that was made by the Minister
04:08here.
04:09Avinash Gyalot was the one who referred to Indira Gandhi as Aapki Dadi, which has got
04:13the Congress seeing red.
04:14They're demanding an apology from him.
04:16He, however, has refused to apologize, saying there's no disrespect in the comment, maintaining
04:21that the term Dadi is meant out of respect and it's not disrespectful whatsoever to
04:28the former Prime Minister.
04:41And as we get you all of these images coming in of the protests and the showdown, we will
04:47also connect with our reporter on the ground to show you what exactly is happening there
04:52and the kind of chaotic scenes playing out in Jaipur right now over that comment made
04:57by a BJP minister.
04:59Devankar is joining us with more details on this.
05:02Devankar, dramatic images on our screens of the Congress protest.
05:06We understand there are protests taking place right now as we speak, both inside and outside
05:10the Assembly.
05:11Absolutely.
05:12In fact, right now, outside the Assembly, you can see a large number of Congress MLAs,
05:21Congress leaders, Congress workers who have gathered out there to protest against the
05:26remark that was made about the former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
05:30And these workers, these leaders have gathered in large numbers to claim that, you know,
05:37till the time the suspension of six Congress MLAs is not revoked, till the time the BJP
05:42minister, Avinash Ghelot, who made those remarks about Indira Gandhi are not expunged from
05:49the proceedings of Rajasthan Assembly, till that time, this stalemate will continue.
05:54And right now, Akshita, you can see these Congress workers who have gathered about a
05:59kilometre away from the State Assembly in such large numbers.
06:03They were trying to break the barricades, the multilevel barricading that is there.
06:09In fact, there is a large police paraphernalia who has already arrived out here.
06:14And the clear instructions to senior police officers is that in no way these Congress
06:20workers, leaders should be allowed to be in the vicinity of the Rajasthan Assembly where
06:25the budget session was in motion.
06:28Right now, several of the Congress leaders are inside the State Assembly as well.
06:34In fact, six of the suspended Congress MLAs, including the Rajasthan Congress chief, Govind
06:39Singh Dottasra, are inside the State Assembly.
06:42In fact, leader of opposition, T.K. Ram Julli, apart from former Deputy Chief Minister Sachin
06:46Pilate, were also inside the State Assembly.
06:49But the scenes outside the State Assembly, about a kilometre away from there, is one
06:55of chaos, is one of confrontation and the Congress leaders and workers clearly wanting
07:00to move ahead but the amount of police, the number of police personnel who are out here
07:06clearly mean that it is no easy task.
07:09The police is not going to allow them to proceed anywhere within the vicinity of 100 metres
07:15from the State Assembly in such large numbers while they are protesting or trying to move
07:20towards the Assembly in an aggressive manner.
07:23Out here, several of the senior Congress leaders who have already arrived out here
07:27and I would want the camera person to pan the camera and show you the other side and
07:32show you how in such large numbers the police are out here, the multi-level barricading
07:38that is there.
07:39The camera person in fact is perched atop a wall so as to ensure that a bird's eye
07:45view can be provided to our viewers of this protest site where several of the Congress
07:51former ministers, leaders from different parts of different districts including Dosa,
07:56Bharatpur, Swaimadhopur, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer who have arrived out here and this is something
08:01which really has given the Congress a fresh breath of air because it feels that it has
08:07galvanised its cadre, it has tried to ensure that the workers have come together and they
08:12are now claiming that their former senior leaders such as the former Prime Minister
08:16Indira Gandhi, former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, these leaders who are greats of the
08:23country will not be denigrated by the VTB in such manner.