The Chennai police booked Tamil Nadu Congress leader KS Alagiri, Legislative Party leader Selvaperunthagai, Member of Parliament Jothimani, and 600 others for holding a protest holding black balloons during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Chennai. The Congress leaders have been booked under three sections of the Indian Penal Code.
Anguished over Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification from Parliament, the Congress functionaries were protesting against PM Modi’s visit to the state. They also waved black flags at him while wearing black outfits to mark their protest. Congress leader Sirivella Prasad, Sriperumbudur Congress MLA Selvaperunthagai, senior leader KV Thangabalu, MP Jothimani, Velachery Congress MLA JMH Aassan Maulaana, and Ponneri MLA Durai Chandrasekhar were among the protesters. They were detained by the local police in the evening.
On April 7, Chennai police detained Tamil Nadu Congress's Schedule Castes unit chairman MP Ranjan Kumar at his house for planning to release black-coloured balloons printed with Go Back Modi. His phone was seized and he was not allowed to use his phone or leave his house.
The protests are being held in the backdrop of Rahul Gandhi's disqualification from Parliament. The Lok Sabha secretariat announced the disqualification on March 24, a day after a Gujarat court found Rahul Gandhi guilty in a criminal defamation case for his remarks against Modi during an election campaign in 2019.