Bhatta Parsaul To Akashvani: Rahul Gandhi’s Most Dramatic Protests And Run-Ins With Police | Explainers News

Last Updated:October 07, 2026, 10:00 IST

For more than 15 years, Gandhi’s political journey has repeatedly intersected with police barricades, preventive arrests and detentions

A small gate, a police cordon, a flying kiss and a long sit-in inside Akashvani Bhavan. By the time Tuesday night ended, Congress MP and Leader of The Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi had once again turned a confrontation with the police into the defining image of an Opposition protest.

The LoP was among INDIA bloc leaders who attempted to march towards the Election Commission on October 6, demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and protesting the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls.

Police stopped the march near the poll panel’s office. Gandhi climbed a barricade, waved the Tricolour and was taken towards a police bus. But that was not the end of the drama. Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra managed to enter the Akashvani Bhavan premises, where they and other Opposition leaders staged a dharna for hours. Police eventually removed and detained them. They were released later last night night.

Gandhi said he was standing there to “protect democracy”, while the BJP dismissed the protest as theatrics and accused him of attempting to create anarchy and politically relaunch himself.

But Tuesday’s spectacle was not an isolated episode.

For more than 15 years, Gandhi’s political journey has repeatedly intersected with police barricades, preventive arrests and detentions, often when he has tried to physically reach farmers, protesters, victims’ families or government institutions.

In some ways, the most recent episode looked remarkably similar to the very first major confrontation of this kind.

2011: Bhatta Parsaul – The Beginning Of The Template

Long before he was Leader of the Opposition, Rahul Gandhi was a young Congress general secretary and Amethi MP. In May 2011, he arrived at Bhatta Parsaul in Greater Noida, the epicentre of a violent farmers’ agitation against land acquisition for the Yamuna Expressway project.

The administration had deployed a heavy police presence. Gandhi nevertheless managed to enter the village at around 4 am, riding pillion on a motorcycle. Police were reportedly caught off guard and recognised him only after he began meeting farmers.

He spent the day meeting farmers, listening to their grievances and sitting on a dharna. “I feel ashamed to call myself Indian after seeing what has happened here,” Gandhi said, accusing the then Mayawati government of unleashing atrocities on villagers.

He also told the protesters: “I am with you till your demands are met.”

The confrontation ended late that night when Uttar Pradesh Police arrested Gandhi under Section 151 of the CrPC, a preventive provision. He was taken away from the protest site and later released.

The BJP called his intervention a “political drama” and a “political stunt”. BJP leader Rajnath Singh argued that if Congress genuinely wanted to help farmers, the then UPA government should push through the pending Land Acquisition Bill.

It was an early example of a political pattern that would return repeatedly: Gandhi gets around a police cordon, reaches the people at the centre of a controversy, sits with them, and the eventual detention becomes part of the political message.

Fourteen years later, at Akashvani, the method looked strikingly familiar.

Only, the motorcycle had been replaced by a small gate.

2016: OROP, A Hospital And Another Detention

In November 2016, Gandhi was detained after going to Delhi’s Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital to meet the family of Ram Kishan Grewal, a retired soldier who had died by suicide amid a dispute over One Rank One Pension.

Gandhi was stopped near the hospital and taken into custody. The episode became particularly dramatic when Grewal’s family members were also detained. Inside Mandir Marg police station, Gandhi confronted an officer over the treatment of the veteran’s relatives.

“Sharm nahi aati aapko? Aap ek jawan jo mar gaya hai uski family ko utha kar laye hain. Kya jurm hai unka?” he asked.

Gandhi was subsequently detained again while participating in protests over the issue. Gandhi and thed Congress portrayed the police action as an attempt to prevent him from standing with veterans; the government and BJP maintained that the law-and-order situation justified restrictions.

2017: Mandsaur – Riding Into Another Farmers’ Flashpoint

The following year, Gandhi again headed towards a farmers’ protest. In June 2017, five farmers were killed in police firing during an agitation in Mandsaur, Madhya Pradesh. Gandhi attempted to enter the district to meet the families of those killed.

The local administration had denied him permission. He was arrested at the Rajasthan-Madhya Pradesh border near Neemuch under Section 151 of the CrPC. “I just want to meet the farmers,” Gandhi said after being detained.

BJP spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao accused Gandhi of “opportunistic and cynical politics” and said Gandhi was indulging in “political tourism” and trying to create a “photo-op”.

2020: Hathras – Confrontation Caught On Camera

If Bhatta Parsaul established the pattern, Hathras produced one of its most powerful visual moments. In October 2020, Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra travelled towards Hathras after the death of a 19-year-old Dalit woman who had been allegedly gang-raped and assaulted.

Their convoy was stopped on the Yamuna Expressway. The siblings continued on foot. Police tried to stop them. Gandhi fell during the confrontation and was eventually detained. “I am standing here peacefully. I want to march alone to Hathras. Section 144 talks about public assembly. I will go alone to Hathras. On what basis are you detaining me?” Gandhi asked police.

After the confrontation, Gandhi said, “Can only Modi-ji walk in this country? Can’t a normal person walk?”

The BJP described the visit as “political tourism”. Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said: “There should not be political tourism” over the case, while BJP leaders accused the Congress of attempting to politicise the tragedy.

For Congress, however, the images of Gandhi being stopped and detained became central to its attack on the Uttar Pradesh government.

2022: From ED office To Vijay Chowk

The National Herald case brought another form of confrontation. Gandhi appeared before the Enforcement Directorate in June 2022 for questioning in the money-laundering case linked to the National Herald. Congress workers and leaders protested outside, with several leaders being detained during attempts to march towards the ED office.

A month later, Gandhi himself was detained during a Congress protest against the questioning of his mother, Sonia Gandhi, by the ED.

On July 26, Gandhi and other Congress MPs staged a sit-in at Vijay Chowk and planned to march towards Rashtrapati Bhavan. Delhi Police stopped them and detained several leaders.

Congress alleged misuse of state power. The BJP, meanwhile, portrayed the protests as an attempt to pressure an independent investigative agency. The confrontation had once again moved from the legal issue itself to the politics surrounding Gandhi’s physical resistance to police restrictions.

2026: PM Residence, Parliament, Protests And Akashvani

By 2026, Gandhi’s position had changed dramatically. He was no longer simply a Congress leader leading street protests; he was now the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha. Yet the street-politics playbook remained.

In July 2026, Gandhi took his protest directly to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s doorstep after police action against students protesting alleged examination irregularities and paper leaks. Accompanied by Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and other Opposition leaders, he staged a sit-in outside 7, Lok Kalyan Marg, demanding accountability, the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and a discussion in Parliament.

The move reportedly caught Delhi Police off guard, as arrangements had been made for a possible protest at Vijay Chowk instead. After nearly three hours, police detained Gandhi and several Opposition leaders and took them away in buses. Gandhi later explained his strategy bluntly: “If the youth are on the streets, the Opposition should be too.”

Tuesday’s protest offered the most theatrical version yet. The INDIA bloc’s march towards the Election Commission was stopped by police. Gandhi climbed the barricades, waved the national flag and carried a placard declaring: “Gyanesh, it’s done bro!”

Then came the unexpected twist. As police began detaining Opposition leaders and moving them towards buses, Gandhi and Priyanka entered Akashvani Bhavan. What followed was an hours-long sit-in inside the premises before police finally removed the protesters. Gandhi and Priyanka were among those detained and were released later in the night.

Gandhi defended the protest in sweeping terms, saying, “I am not interested in what the BJP says. I am standing here to protect democracy in the country.”

The BJP offered the exact opposite interpretation. Union minister Kiren Rijiju called the protests “drama” and told Gandhi to learn from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP workers rather than rely on such tactics.

BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra accused the Congress of trying to “launch and re-launch Rahul Gandhi by any means necessary” and alleged that the Opposition was willing to undermine democracy to do so.

BJP MP Sudhanshu Trivedi was equally scathing, saying the protest was “theatrics” and questioning why Gandhi had not simply sought a formal meeting with the Election Commission.

The Rahul Gandhi Protest Playbook

There is a striking visual continuity running through these episodes. In Bhatta Parsaul, Gandhi slipped past the police on a motorcycle. In Mandsaur, he tried to cross a state border despite restrictions. In Hathras, he continued on foot after his vehicle was stopped. During the ED protests, he sat down at Vijay Chowk and refused to simply disperse. And at Akashvani Bhavan, he found another route after police had apparently brought the march under control.

The locations, political battles and Gandhi himself have changed. The instinct to cross the barricade has not.

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