Members of the Arunachal Pradesh Youth Congress took out a bike rally from Nirjuli to the state capital today to protest against inflation..

Members of the Arunachal Pradesh Youth Congress took out a bike rally from Nirjuli to the state capital today to protest against inflation and other issues. Shouting Bharat Bachao slogans, hundreds of Youth Congress members participated in the rally from Nirjuli, 19 kilometers from here, despite a drizzle. State Congress president Takam Sanjoy and AIYC national secretary Monalisa Banerjee, in-charge of the state, flagged off the rally at 8 am after a heated exchange of words with the police, as it was prohibited from taking off from the original venue, the party leaders said.

State Congress president Takam Sanjoy

The police prohibited the rally from taking off from Nyokumniya hall at Nirjuli along the NH-415 on the ground that the district magistrate had refused it permission. The state Congress president who had an argument with the police officers on duty said that permission for taking out the rally had been sought two weeks ago and "denying permission on the spot without prior intimation amounted to provocation." 

"It is a democratic country and we cannot be prohibited from taking out a rally just because the vice president has arrived here a day in advance. It is the injustice," Sanjoy said. The participants went a few meters ahead of the original venue and began the rally, he said. "With no governance, rising inflation and continuing negligence of the downtrodden sections of the society, it is time to awaken the masses," Sanjoy and Banerjee said.

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu had canceled his Sikkim visit due to inclement weather yesterday and arrived here from Bagdogra yesterday afternoon. The vice president is scheduled to lay the foundation stone of a seepage management system and stormwater drainage system of Itanagar. He would then proceed to the North Eastern Regional Institute of Science and Technology (NERIST) to interact with its faculty and research scholars.