Racist comment row: Cong workers stage protest against Giriraj

Congress on Thursday took to the streets demanding the sacking of Union Minister Giriraj Singh for his controversial remarks against Sonia Gandhi, with part activists staging protests in the national capital and Bengaluru where Bharatiya Janata Party leaders have gathered for National Executive meet.

While the Youth Congress staged a protest outside a residential complex in Delhi where Giriraj Singh lives, another demonstration was staged by Delhi Mahila Congress outside the BJP's headquarters at 11, Ashoka Road in the national capital.

Police swung into action and took away the banners from the protesters who had gathered outside Vitthal Bhai Patel House complex. They foiled an attempt to burn Singh's effigy. The protesters were later bundled off in a police bus.

Singh had apparently left for Bengaluru last evening to attend the BJP's National Executive meeting.

The protesters led by the Delhi Pradesh Mahila Congress chief Onika Mehrotra were carrying placards and shouting slogans demanding removal of Singh, who is the minister of state for micro, small and medium enterprises, from the Union Council of Ministers.

“How can the chapter be closed with the mere withdrawal of the statement. This is not enough,” Mehrotra told reporters. She also threatened to file an FIR against Singh for making ‘racist’ comments against Gandhi.

Police had barricaded the stretch outside the BJP headquarters and a large numbers of police personnel were deployed at the spot. The protesters then marched toward Parliament Street Police Station to court arrest.

In Bengaluru, Congress and National Students' Union of India workers assembled at a major junction, about a kilometre away from a hotel where top BJP leaders have gathered for the party's two-day National Executive meeting that starts on Wednesday.

They shouted slogans against Singh and burnt his effigy.

Karnataka Mahila Congress chief Manjula Naidu condemned Singh's ‘racist’ remark and said an apology from him would not do and he should be sacked as minister.

The protesters were whisked away by police.

The minister has kicked up a row with his remarks asking whether Congress would have accepted Sonia Gandhi's leadership had she not been white-skinned.

“Had Rajiv Gandhi married a Nigerian woman and if she was not a white-skinned woman, would the Congress have then accepted her (Sonia's) leadership?” he had told journalists on Tuesday.

The comments were slammed by a furious Congress which asked the prime minister to dismiss him and apologise to the nation.

Various women leaders also attacked Singh saying it reflected his racial mindset and attitude towards women.

Image: Madhya Pradesh Congress workers burn an effigy of Union minister of State Giriraj Singh to protest against his racist comment on the party President Sonia Gandhi. Photograph: PTI