Hours after release, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi was detained again on Wednesday after meeting kin of ex-serviceman Ram Kishan Grewal, who allegedly committed suicide over the delay in implementation of the One Rank, One Pension (OROP) scheme.
Earlier in the day, Rahul was not allowed to meet Grewal’s family at the RML Hospital in the national capital. Gandhi was not allowed to enter the hospital premises by the security personnel deployed at the entrance gate.
70-year-old Grewal, an ex-serviceman from Haryana’s Bhiwani district, ended his life yesterday by allegedly consuming poison on the lawns behind a government building in Janpath, the central area of the capital. Grewal, who was a familiar face of OROP agitation, left behind a suicide note, his son said.
Rahul was briefly detained and taken to Mandir Marg Police Station, following which Congress workers protested outside the police station and he was released after 70-minute detention.
Rahul wondered whether democracy works in this fashion. “Naya Hindustan ban raha hai bhaiya (New India is in making)…This is Modi ji’s India,” the Congress-vice president said after he was denied entry.
Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and AAP MLA Surinder Singh were also detained at the RML Hospital after Sisodia met Grewal’s family.
“Rahul Gandhi was detained at Mandir Marg Police Station for ‘disruption of duty’ after he tried to enter RML premises to meet the family of the ex-serviceman,” Senior police officer MK Meena said.
Meena added that ‘this is a hospital, not a place for demonstration,’ stating that AAP leaders who were ‘creating disturbance’ were also detained.
