New Delhi:
Before he reached Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan for the INDIA bloc’s rally, Rahul Gandhi sought to renew his “shop a little” appeal to the people, but claimed the BJP had “forcibly shut down every shop” in Delhi’s Connaught Place. This was a day after Gandhi asked the “lakhs of people” expected in Delhi for the rally to also shop at the city’s markets, in a cheeky counter to the BJP’s and some trader organisations’ contentions that the event would disrupt business during the ongoing festive season.
The INDIA bloc marched from the Connaught Place Outer Circle road to Ramlila Maidan for its rally over alleged electoral fraud, seeking the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the scrapping of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls.
“We told everyone that when you come here for the march and the mega rally, buy things, do some shopping. But, while coming to Connaught Place, we found out that the BJP has forcibly shut down every single shop,” the Leader of Opposition said in a video from the open-top safari vehicle in which he and some other leaders headed to the venue a kilometre and a half away.
“So, you should know who is causing the loss to the traders, and how it’s happening!” he said.
हमने सब लोगों से कहा कि जब आप मार्च और महारैली के लिए यहां आएंगे, चीजें खरीदें, खरीदारी करें। मगर, यहां Connaught Place में आते हुए हमें पता लगा कि BJP ने सारी की सारी दुकानें जबरदस्ती बंद करवा दी। तो traders का नुकसान कौन कर रहा है, कैसे हो रहा है, यह आप जान लीजिए! https://t.co/zeB9kT05xO
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) November 1, 2026
Parts of the market were closed for some hours on Sunday morning — the rally call was for noon — while the parking areas had vehicles that brought in rally participants. Footfall was scarce in open shops. The central area of the national capital has seen a series of anti-CEC protests since the start of October, and saw some disruption back in June and July too when the youth group Cockroach Janta Party held a protest over paper leaks.
About the Sunday rally, Atul Bhargava, president of the New Delhi Traders Association, said to NDTV, “Once again, Connaught Place is bearing the brunt of these rallies, creating an atmosphere of uncertainty and fear among customers who are reluctant to visit the market.” He added, “We need a court order that no rally, protest or march can originate, culminate and pass through CP, as this is affecting our right to a livelihood.”
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Earlier, Rahul Gandhi said in a Saturday night video post, “Tomorrow, along with protesting, marching and attending the rally, do a little shopping too. It will help our local traders… I know that our rally will not hurt the traders. The BJP is spreading rumours because it is scared. But let’s do both (protest and shopping).”
The Chamber of Trade and Industry (CTI) had written to INDIA bloc leaders Akhilesh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party, Mamata Banerjee of the Trinamool Congress, Tejashwi Yadav of the RJD and Uddhav Thackeray of the Shiv Sena (UBT), seeking their intervention to have the rally moved to a date after November 11.
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CTI chairman Brijesh Goyal said the association had approached Gandhi three times but could not get him to change the date. According to CTI, daily business worth Rs 10,000-12,000 crore was at stake across around 20 major wholesale and retail markets in central and Old Delhi, including Connaught Place and Chandni Chowk. Goyal said the association was not against the rally but feared that an expected gathering of 10 lakh people and 15,000-20,000 vehicles could bring commercial activity to a standstill.
Dhanteras falls on November 6 and Diwali on November 8. Traders said November 1 is among the most important days for stocking goods ahead of the festive rush.
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The police had granted conditional permission for the rally and directed organisers to park vehicles only at designated locations.
The march began from the Minto Road-Connaught Place junction and proceeded towards Ramlila Maidan, where Gandhi, addressing the rally, said Gyanesh Kumar would be removed as Chief Election Commissioner and jailed, alleging that votes were stolen in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
“This theft of votes is no ordinary theft. This is the theft of every voice of India. This is called treason,” Gandhi said, speaking in Hindi. “Without Gyanesh Kumar, neither would Narendra Modi have become Prime Minister nor Amit Shah the Home Minister,” he said, calling the 2024 polls “illegal”.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, speaking before Gandhi, said the governments at the Centre and in Maharashtra, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh were “all governments of vote theft”.
“Only if Modi goes will democracy survive,” Kharge said.
Sonia Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Akhilesh Yadav were among the INDIA bloc leaders who attended the rally.
The BJP held a counter “Loktantra Bachao, Arajakta Hatao” (Save Democracy, End Anarchy) padayatra in Faridabad near Delhi among other places nationwide. At Faridabad, senior BJP leader Dharmendra Pradhan, who had to resign as education minister after a protest sparked by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) in July, accused Gandhi and the Congress of eroding faith in democratic institutions.
In Goa, Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said the SIR was a constitutional exercise.
“Around 13 crore entries had been removed from electoral rolls, including 2.8 crore names of deceased persons, while 1.9 crore new names had been added,” Shekhawat said, according to news agency PTI.
“Is the Congress opposing SIR or electoral accountability? The party should make its position clear,” he said.
(With inputs from PTI, ANI)
