Farmers Movement Archive

Congress protests against detention; Rahul Gandhi to visit Lakhimpur on Wednesday

NEW DELHI: Congress on Tuesday mobilised its own and opposition leaders from across India to protest against the farmer deaths in Lakhimpur Kheri and the “illegal detention” and subsequent arrest of its leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in Sitapur district of UP. Upping the ante against Priyanka’s arrest, Congress said its former party chief Rahul Gandhi will head to Kheri on Wednesday to meet with the family of the deceased farmers. Meanwhile on Tuesday, Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel staged a sit-in inside the Lucknow airport after he was denied permission to exit into the city, while Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi and demanded the repeal of the three contentious farm laws. “I also told him (Shah) that we'll not tolerate barbaric killings in UP (Lakhimpur Kheri). This system of arresting our leaders should stop,” Channi said. While Priyanka issued a statement saying she was only informed of her arrest over phone, was not served a copy of the FIR, not allowed to meet her legal counsel and not even presented before a magistrate, former Union minister P Chidambaram underlined that no woman can be arrested after sunset or before sunrise and Gandhi was arrested at 4.30 am, by a male police officer, “which is illegal”. The facts and circumstances concerning Gandhi's detention in Sitapur “conclusively establish that there is no rule of law in UP”, Chidambaram said. Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot and former law minister Ashwini Kumar criticised the Adityanath-led BJP government in UP for disallowing opposition leaders to visit Kheri. Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu, on the other hand, threatened to march towards Kheri if Priyanka is not released by Wednesday and MoS Ajay Mishra’s son not held for the murder of farmers. With Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut meeting Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday with a plan to cobble together a joint opposition over the Kheri violence, Congress also appeared to make the massacre the next big plank against BJP. “Lakhimpur Kheri violence has shaken the nation, Priyanka Gandhi has been arrested by the UP government, opposition leaders are being restricted from meeting farmers. There is a need for joint opposition action against oppression by the Government in UP,” Raut said on Twitter. NCP chief Sharad Pawar, meanwhile, drew a parallel between the Lakhimpur Kheri incident and the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, and said BJP will have to pay a heavy price for the violence in UP. “Whether it is government at the Centre or in Uttar Pradesh, they are not sensitive at all. The kind of situation that was created in Jallianwala Bagh, we are witnessing a similar situation in Uttar Pradesh. Today or tomorrow, they will have to pay a heavy price for it,” he said demanding a probe by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court. Tamil Nadu CM M K Stalin also said revoking the three farm laws in toto is the only way to restore harmony even as he condemned the violence in Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh and demanded a judicial enquiry against those responsible for it. “A judicial enquiry should be ordered against those responsible for the violence. The Central government must realise that complete repeal of the three farm laws alone will lead to normalcy and total peace,” Stalin said. Former J&K CM and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti also tweeted in defense of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. Alleging that India is a democracy only on paper and its “grim descent into a banana republic has begun”, Mufti demanded that Priyanka be released. “GOI first gets a docile media to berate Congress and lament lack of a viable opposition but systematically ensures they don't discharge their duties by illegal arrests. We are a democracy on paper but clearly the grim descent into a banana republic has begun. Release @priyankagandhi,” she said on Twitter. Priyanka Gandhi was detained on Monday in Sitapur while on her way to Lakhimpur where eight people were killed in violence on Sunday.

The Times of India

2021-10-06

India