Mumbai, Mar 27 (IANS): The Congress' Maharashtra unit on Sunday carried out vociferous protests in all districts in the state gainst the Bharatiya Janata Party for the disqualification of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi from the Lok Sabha.

The protests were led by state President Nana Patole from Nagpur, Congress Legislative Party Leader Balasaheb Thorat, other senior leaders, Regional Working President Naseem Khan, and Mumbai party chief Bhai Jagtap.

They raised slogans against the ruling BJP at the Centre and said that this was "a murder of democracy", but the Congress would not be cowed down and would continue its "struggle for freedom from the BJP's dictatorship".

Patole, Thorat, Khan, Chavan and other leaders said that Gandhi is being punished for raising the burning issues concerning the people, and exposing the "corrupt nexus" between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his "industrialist friends".

They also demanded a probe into how and whose ill-gotten wealth had gone into one industrialist's companies and why the Centre is scared of Gandhi's revelations on them.

The Congress state, cities and district units carried out a daylong 'satyagraha' across the state, and in Pune, a signature campaign in Gandhi's favour was launched, while in other places, the protestors sported black badges and masks amid other forms of protests.

The agitation was spearheaded by Patole, Thorat, Khan, Jagtap, ex-CM Prithviraj Chavan, Vilas Muttemwar, Rajendra Mulak, Wajahat Mirza, and Madhu Chavan, who said that "today's Satyagraha is the beginning of a new revolution for freedom from dictatorship".