Congress leaders' protests in black clothes 'insult to Ram Bhakts', says UP CM Yogi Adityanath

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday said that Congress leaders’ protest in black clothes is an “insult to Ram bhakts”.

“Till now, Congress was protesting in normal attire but today they protested wearing black clothes. It is an insult to Ram Bhakts,” the chief minister said.

The Congress leaders protested against price rise, hike in GST on essential items and unemployment on Friday in New Delhi and other parts of the country wearing black clothes. The day coincided with the anniversary of the Ram temple foundation laying by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Uttar Pradesh's Ayodhya.

Their decision to wear black during the protest was criticised by Adityanath, who said, “They chose this day as today is Ayodhya Diwas, which marks the beginning of construction of Ram Janambhoomi”.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader further condemned this and called it an insult to Ayodhya Diwas along with India’s democracy and judiciary. “Such acts of the Congress party have insulted the faith of India. Congress' attitude has insulted Ayodhya Diwas along with insulting India's democracy and judiciary. We condemn such acts of the party,” Adityanath was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

The grand old party, which is known for its traditional approach to protests, threw a surprise when its leaders showed up wearing black. While the male Congress MPs were seen sporting black kurtas, shirts, scarves, and headgears, the women leaders also wore black.

Party chief Sonia Gandhi wore a printed crisp saree with a black border and a black blouse. Rahul Gandhi wore a black shirt for the protest in the Parliament complex and a subsequent march of party leaders to Rashtrapati Bhavan during which they were stopped and detained.

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also donned a black salwar suit as she staged a sit-in protest outside the AICC headquarters in the national capital.

Congress spokesperson Shama Mohamed said the aim was to send a message of protest. “It is a black day as Rahul ji said there is no democracy, democracy is dead in India. They are not listening to anything about inflation, so we are protesting,” she told news agency PTI.