Amit Shah Hits Out at Rahul Gandhi Over Arrest of 'Techies' Raising Pro-Modi Slogans in Bengaluru

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah on Tuesday took a swipe at Rahul Gandhi over police action against techies at the Congress chief’s rally in Bengaluru on Monday.

Chaos reigned at Gandhi’s rally after several people started raising slogans in support of Prime Minister Narendra Modi outside the Manyata Tech Park. In a video that has gone viral on social media, policemen can be seen chasing protesters screaming “Modi, Modi, Modi" and hurling placards demanding that Gandhi leave the venue. When the protesters became out of control, the police had to intervene and clear the area.

The BJP alleged that several demonstrators, including techies, have been taken into custody and further condemned the police action against them.

BJP president Amit Shah Tuesday targeted Gandhi over the alleged arrest of some techies, saying youngsters give direction to the future and he should "stop intimidating youth of India, which has rejected your brand of politics".

"Hugs for 'Tukde Tukde' gang and arrest of peaceful youth raising pro-Modi slogans? Where are the champions of 'Free Speech'? Yuvraj (prince) of CONgress must know that time follows the course taken by youngsters. Stop intimidating youth of India, which has rejected your brand of politics," Shah tweeted.

The BJP chief also tagged a post by his party's Karnataka unit, which said the state police had arrested some techies over the incident. "This is the real face of democracy in a Cong-JD(S) ruled state. It's total dictatorship where freedom of choice & expression of citizens is suppressed," it had said, posting a purported video of some people being taken away by cops.

State BJP leader CT Ravi alleged that Congress workers had "attacked techies who shouted Modi-Modi slogans". However, the Bengaluru police denied any arrests. "No one has been arrested, only people were dispersed without use of force," said senior police officer Seemanth Kumar Singh in tweet .