New Delhi:
Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Monday launched a scathing attack against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath alleging that the police were "complicit in wrongdoings" in their brutal crackdown on people protesting the citizenship law. Priyanka Gandhi, who earlier accused Lucknow police of manhandling her, dismissed the concerns of her own safety and said that India has no place for violence, enmity and revenge.
“I think it is happening for the first time that a Chief Minister has made a statement like 'badla liya jaega (we will take revenge). And this is what is happening in the state,” she said while addressing a press conference in Lucknow. “The question of my security is not a big question rather a small one. There is no need to discuss it. Today we are raising the issue of security of the state's people,” she added.
She also alleged UP police had been arresting people - 31 were detained for their alleged role in last week's protests alone - who had nothing to do with agitations against the citizenship law. “The cases we know of suggest more than 5,500 have been arrested. Many have been jailed in discreet manner... they are being thrashed. Police and administration are complicit in wrongdoing," Priyanka Gandhi Vadra added.
Elaborating further, the Congress leader said that innocent protesters are targeted by the state police and administration.
“I went to meet a family in Bijnor. Their 21-year-old son Suleman, who had come home on vacation, had gone to the local mosque for namaz. Suddenly, the news came that he has been hit by a police bullet,” Gandhi said.
“There was another boy, who was a coffee machine operator. He told his father that he is going out to get some milk. His father warned him that bad things are happening outside. He said he’ll be back in five minutes. But five minutes later, someone came running to his father saying he has been shot dead,” Gandhi added.
“And to add to family’s woes,” the Congress leader said, “they were threatened of dire consequences if they thought about filing an FIR.”
The Congress leader said in her interaction with the media that Congress has sent a letter to Governor Anandiben Patel which says the steps taken by the UP government do not have legal sanctions. “The police is sticking to chief minister’s statement of taking revenge,” Gandhi said.
