New Delhi, July 20 (IANS): Hundreds of Congress activists were detained here on Wednesday when they tried to break the barricades to march to Parliament protesting against price rise, police said.

"Nearly 200 people have been detained and taken to the Parliament Street police station," an official told IANS.

Senior Congress leaders, including Raj Babbar and Randeep Surjewala, also took part in the protest at Jantar Mantar.

Hundreds of Congress supporters and leaders on Wednesday protested against the rise in the prices of essential commodities. They criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not fulfilling the promises he had made to the people in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

Raj Babbar, who led the march, said: "Modiji has been spending all his time outside the country. He does not care about the problems people are facing here due to price rise". 

"He has failed to provide jobs to the youths he had promised before the elections," Babbar added. 

"The Modi government is the government of brokers and middlemen. You cannot fill the stomach of 125 crore people with speeches. You'll have to give them ration," said Surjewala.

The National Students Union of India (NSUI) members also took part in the demonstration and demanded that the prices of vegetables and other groceries should be brought down.

"The prices of all essential commodities have gone up drastically in this government. People are suffering and Modiji is not concerned," a protester said. 

Earlier at the Congress parliamentary party meeting, Congress President Sonia Gandhi also took up the issue of rising prices of commodities, especially of food items. 

"The Modi government's hollow claims on inflation have been exposed recently by no less a person than the Reserve Bank Governor. The government's inaction in helping farmers affected by acute drought, despite the Supreme Court's intervention, is deplorable. The widespread distress in rural areas seems to be of no concern to the Modi government," Gandhi added.