As part of its ongoing protests against the “insensitive” manner in which the BJP’s Yogi Adityanath Government handed the Hathras gangrape incident, the Maharashtra Congress will hold a State-wide Satyagraha on Monday to demand justice for the victim’s family in Uttar Pradesh.
Announcing this here on Sunday, Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president and State Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat said: “The Hathras incident in Uttar Pradesh has made India hang its head in shame, but the BJP's Yogi Adityanath government continues to remain insensitive. This case was handled in a very irresponsible and dictatorial manner. Instead of giving justice to the victim's family, the Uttar Pradesh government threatened them. Our fight will continue till the victim's family gets justice”.
Maintaining that women and girls are not safe in the BJP-ruled states, the State Congress demanded to know as to why Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who chanted the slogan of 'Beti Bachao' “is silent even today”.Thorat said that his party would hold a state-wide satyagraha tomorrow to demand an answer from the “egoistic and insensitive” BJP government in Uttar Pradesh ensure that the victim gets justice. He said the satyagraha would be held at all the district headquarters in the state. Thorat said he would participate in the Satyagraha to be organised in Mumbai.
Demanding a Supreme Court-monitored inquiry into the Hathras inciden, Thorat rooted for the suspension of Hathras district collector “Why did the police burn the body of the victim by dousing it in petrol? Why was the victim's family threatened and misled by the UP administration? And what is the guarantee that the body that was burnt was of the victim? The victim's family has the right to know the answers to these questions and the Yogi Adityanath government will have to answer these questions,” the state Congress chief said.
Thorat charged that the “arrogant and dictatorial” Yogi Adityanath had dismantled the democracy in his state. He said that aafer Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi were stopped on their way to Hathras and manhandled, party workers across the country, including Maharashtra, took to the streets and expressed their anger in protest against the repression from the Uttar Pradesh government.
“Finally, the UP government came to its senses and allowed Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi to visit the victim's family. But on the way, the Congress workers were beaten with sticks and the male police officers went to the extent of touching the clothes of AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi. This shows the cheap mentality of the Yogi Adityanath government towards women. Public will not forget this incident and will pull the BJP and its arrogance down,” Thorat said,