Upping the ante over the gang rape of a 19-year-old Dalit girl at Hathras in Uttar Pradesh, the ruling Congress and NCP castigated the UP police for preventing Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi from going to Hathras which they described as “an act of oppression”, even as Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray said that the Hathras-like incident would not be tolerated in the state.
On a day when the Congress leaders and workers staged a staged a dharna in Mumbai and other places in the state against “jungle raj” in Uttar Pradesh, the senior State Congress leaders demanded the resignation of UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath, while NCP chief Sharad Pawar condemned the “reckless behaviour” of the UP police towards Rahul Gandhi.
“Reckless behaviour of UP Police towards @INCIndia leader Shri @RahulGandhi is extremely condemnable. It is reprehensible for those who are supposed to uphold the law to trample upon the democratic values in such a manner,” Pawar tweeted.
Congress leaders and party workers, led by Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president and Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat, staged dharna near the Mahatma Gandhi statue near Mantralaya (State secretariat) in south Mumbai against the oppression by the UP police and UP government.
Speaking on the occasion, Thorat said: “What happened with Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi today in UP it has been proved once again there is utter lawlessness in Uttar Pradesh. It is not a state that runs by the book of law and it is in a state of 'Jungle Raaj' In Uttar Pradesh, women and young girls are not safe and the cases of crime against women are now the rise, with a new heinous and shameful incident being reported every day”.
“By not allowing Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi to meet the parents of the victim, it is very clear that the Uttar Pradesh government is trying to back the accused of this inhumane case,” Throat said.Meanwhile, condemning the Hathras gang-rape incident, chief minister Uddhav Thackeray said: “Let alone we will not tolerate such Hathras-like incidents, but we will not tolerate men casting evil eye at women”..
Demanding the sacking of UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath, former chief miniser and senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan said: “State sponsored violence in UP is at its peak. Why were Congress leaders Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi prevented from going to #Hathras to condole the family? Why were they detained? I condemn the manhandling of Congress leaders. What is CM Adityanath afraid of? He must be sacked”.
Another former chief minister and current senior Congress minister in the MVA government Ashok Chavan said: “The manner in which the UP police tried to prevent Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi goes to prove that Uttar Padesh is a not a state ruled by law but it has become a Jungle Raj. UP chief minister should accept moral responsibility for the incident and resign from his post”.
Condemning the manner in which Rahul Gandhi was “prevented” from going to Hathras, NCP MP Supriya Sule said: “I publicly deplore such instances when the police grab the collar of a person who is going to seek justice from the UP Police for the victim…Whichever state it may, such a shameful crime must be treated in a fast track manner, that is my demand to CM Adityanath”.
Apart from Throat, prominent among those present at the dharna staged near the state secretariat were former chief ministerPrithviraj Chavan, Medical Education Minister Amit Deshmukh, Textiles Minister Aslam Shaikh, former Minister Naseem
Meanwhile, similar protests were staged by the Congress in some parts of the state. At Sangli in western Maharashtra, the Youth Congress workers staged a “rasta rook” by setting tyres on fire. The protesters raised vociferous slogans against Yogi Adityanath. Following the protests, the local police took into custody ten Congress workers.