Charkha Satyagraha: Congress' new protest against ‘seat chori’

Invoking Mahatma Gandhi’s charkha as a symbol of resistance against injustice, the Congress has launched a nationwide ‘Charkha Satyagraha’ campaign to protest what it calls the “seat chori” of senior leader Meenakshi Natarajan’s Rajya Sabha candidature in Madhya Pradesh, and to rally support for the defence of democratic institutions.

The campaign, which began on 16 June, has seen Congress workers, leaders and supporters gather at various locations across the country, spinning the charkha as a mark of protest.

Party leaders have appealed to citizens to join the movement, arguing that the issue extends beyond the Congress and concerns the integrity of India’s democratic process.

“The issue is not about one party or one candidate. It is about protecting democracy and constitutional institutions,” said one of the organisers. The rejection of Natarajan’s nomination, party leaders said, has become the focal point of the campaign.

In Delhi, the Rajiv Gandhi Panchayati Raj Sangathan and the Indian Youth Congress (IYC) organised a ‘Charkha Satyagraha’ at the IYC headquarters, while senior Congress leaders, including Digvijaya Singh, participated in a similar protest in Bhopal on Wednesday, 17 June.

Addressing the gathering in Delhi, IYC president Uday Bhanu Chib alleged that Natarajan’s nomination had been cancelled without valid grounds and described the move as an example of institutions being misused for political ends.

“The country’s institutions and constitutional framework are under attack. The cancellation of Meenakshi Natarajan’s nomination is a clear example of how democracy is being undermined through the misuse of state machinery,” Chib said.

In a post on X, the IYC said its struggle to safeguard democracy, the Constitution and citizens’ democratic rights would continue.

Congress leader and chairman of the party’s creative cell, Sandeep Dikshit, said the significance of the charkha lay in the ideals it represented rather than the object itself. “When Mahatma Gandhi adopted the charkha during the freedom movement, it was not merely a challenge to British rule but to systems of exploitation and imperialism. No force is greater than satyagraha because it challenges unjust systems,” Dikshit said.

The Congress has maintained that the rejection of Natarajan’s nomination amounted to an attack on democratic norms and has demanded a free and fair electoral process.

Avani Bansal, Supreme Court lawyer and Congress youth leader, said: “Concerned citizens and democracy-loving Indians have started Charkha Satyagraha to urge the Election Commission to break its silence. This issue is larger than one candidate. It concerns every citizen’s right to free and fair elections and the accountability of constitutional institutions”.

Natarajan’s nomination was rejected on the grounds that she had allegedly failed to disclose details of a pending case in her affidavit, a decision that cleared the way for the BJP candidates' victory.

Earlier, Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi alleged that after “vote chori (theft)” and “sarkar (govt) chori”, the BJP had now resorted to “seat chori” in the Rajya Sabha elections. He claimed that the ruling party’s “jugalbandi (duet)” with the Election Commission had ended the contest even before voting could take place.