New Delhi (Gurpreet Singh): — An eight-hour standoff in the heart of the national capital concluded Tuesday evening as law enforcement officers entered the Akashvani Bhawan compound to take Lok Sabha Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi and Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra into custody.
Police personnel simultaneously removed a gathering of party demonstrators who had assembled outside the public broadcasting facility.
The confrontation originated earlier in the day after security forces cordoned off an Opposition procession of over 300 lawmakers advancing toward Nirvachan Sadan, the Election Commission of India’s headquarters. As authorities initiated preventive custody of participating parliamentarians, the Gandhi siblings redirected their approach, entering the grounds of the public broadcaster to establish an unscheduled sit-in rather than boarding police transport.
Flanked by party colleagues and supporters, the two leaders maintained their demonstration on the premises for most of the day. They conditioned their departure on being granted safe passage to submit their grievances at the poll body’s office or being designated an authorized public space within the capital to stage their protest. The impasse ultimately dissolved when Delhi Police moved in to clear the property and transported the leaders away in detention vehicles.
