Demanding arrest of the former general secretary (Organisation) of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Sanjay Kumar, now embroiled in sexual harassment row, Congress workers staged protest meetings across the state on Thursday. In the State capital, the state Congress took out a protest march from the state party office. The well –attended rally triggered a major traffic snarl on many roads, like the bustling Rajpur Road.
Addressing the gathering, the state Congress chief Pritam Singh said that the failure of the State Government to arrest Sanjay Kumar amounted to insulting the women of the state. “It is a matter of great concern that both the government and the BJP are engaged in protecting Kumar,” he said. “The stony silence of the BJP-helmed Government on the issue is disturbing. However, the episode has torn the mask off from the party which indulges in high-sounding moral platitudes,” the state Congress leader said.
He warned that his party would not sit idle when it comes to protecting the honour of the women. “We would further intensify the agitation if Sanjay Kumar is not arrested soon,” he said.
Referring to the statements purportedly made by the BJP Mahanagar president Vinay Goyal on the issue, Singh said that it was highly condemnable. “Goyal tried to put the blame on the woman who has levelled sexual harassment charges,” he said. He further said that Kumar was on the same page as the former Union minister M J Akbar and the BJP national joint general secretary Shiv Prakash on the matter of sexually harassing and exploiting the women.
While addressing the gathering, the former state Congress president Kishore Upadhyaya said that the case not yet being registered against Sanjay Kumar was very disturbing. “It is more so as the charge was levelled by a BJP worker,” he said.
Former State Minister Hira Singh Bisht said that the time has come when the women need to be protected from the party which is loud while flaunting ‘ Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’.
The protest march which started from the party office went to Clock Tower and Astley Hall where the opposition party activists torched an effigy of the state government.
The state party vice- president Surya Kant Dhasmana, former MLA Rajkumar, chairman of the party disciplinary committee, Pramod Kumar Singh, general secretary Vijay Saraswat and Mahanagar president Lal Chand Sharma were among the leaders present.
The Congress also took out similar protest rallies in all the district headquarters on the day on the same issue.