State units were assigned crowd targets for the Capital, accommodation was arranged for outstation workers, and office bearers were asked to coordinate and rehearse cultural performances.
The sea of supporters that gathered at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan for the Congress-led Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA)’s protest against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar were the result of preparations that began days earlier.
The mobilisation was not limited to transporting party workers and supporters. In some states, party office-bearers also handpicked artists to showcase their regional and tribal identities through performances at the rally. The cultural contingents, particularly those from Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, rehearsed for the event well in advance before coming to the Capital. “The artists were selected by office-bearers, and the groups spent nearly a week rehearsing their performances. The party even reached out to women workers to participate in the rally. After headlining a march that snaked through central Delhi for more than an hour and a rally attended by thousands of people, Gandhi trained his guns at the government, saying Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah will not be allowed to escape the law. I am telling you, Narendra Modi can’t go anywhere. We will not allow him to go. After Gyanesh Kumar, we will face you. There will be legal proceedings against Modi and Amit Shah.
Chanda Veragde, president of Chandrapur city Mahila Congress in Maharashtra, said around 500 women from the region had travelled to Delhi by train. The group arrived on October 30, two days before the rally. The programme included a march from the edge of Connaught Place to Ramlila Maidan, a route of 1.3km touching Minto Road and Kamla Market . It began at around 12.45 pm as leaders from more than 19 parties — Congress MP Rahul Gandhi Gandhi, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, former West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav, NCP (SP) leader Supriya Sule and National Conference president Farooq Abdullah – boarded open-top buses commissioned from Rajasthan. For about 1.5 hours, the convoy of vehicles, flanked by thousands of supporters and political workers, drove around central Delhi before reaching Ramlila Maidan at 2.30pm.
They also brought their traditional costumes to Delhi to display regional culture,” said Ram Narayan Singh Rathiya, who brought one such group from Chhattisgarh. Amit Shah had said that Modi will not go anywhere. The country will get justice,” Gandhi told the audience at Ramlila Maidan , one of the three new designated protest sites in the Capital.
Earlier reporting noted: “The first step to bring the country back on track is to remove Gyanesh Kumar. Earlier reporting noted: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) hit back with parallel rallies of its own and alleged that Gandhi, also the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, was acting at the behest of foreign powers to create anarchy in the country.
“Those who travelled from the state were accommodated in hotels in Vasant Kunj, where groups arrived and stayed ahead of the gathering. An office bearer of the Telangana Congress unit said each of the pradesh-level leaders were asked to bring around 100 supporters from their respective constituencies to Delhi for the rally, as he explained the scale of the efforts that went into assembling participants from across the country. Some came in trains and some took the flight,” the 55-year-old worker said.
