Congress leaders / workers will take to the streets to protest the invoking of NSA against its MlA Ajay Rai in Varanasi by the SP government allegedly at the behest of PM Narendra Modi. The party announced to take out a march from the UPCC head-quarter at Mall Avenue to the Governor House and hand over a memorandum. “Senior Congress leaders, including Rajya Sabha members, MlAs, ex-MlAs, former Union ministers, would join the ‘historic’ march led by AICC general secretary Madhusadan Mistri and UP Congress chief Nirmal Khatri on Tuesday,” informed UP Congress vice-president, Satyadeo Tripathi.
“The act of the SP government is condemnable as it was done to satisfy the PM against whom Rai had filed a petition, which will come up for hearing in November next,” he alleged.
Tripathi charged that the action shows that the government is vindictive towards the Congress as only leaders from the party are being set up in the Varanasi incident while three BJP MlAs were present there but they were let off.
Meanwhile a three member Congress team comprising Sriprakash Jaiswal, Pradeep Jain Aditya and Pradeep Mathur will visit Varanasi to get a first hand report on Friday. The Varanasi police arrested MlA Ajay Rai and packed him off to Fatehgarh jail before invoking the National Security Act (NSA) for his akllleged role in the violence at a march in Varanasi on October 5. Rai and other Congress leaders reportedly accompanied Swami Avimukteshwaranand from Town Hall to Dashashwamedha Ghat during the Anyay Pratikar Yatra called to protest the lathicharge on seers, saints and others. Before they could reach Godaulia Chowk, violence erupted and some protesters went berserk and indulged in violence and arson. Earlier on September 22-23, cops had cane charged seers, saints and members of a puja committee who demanded that Ganesha idols be allowed to be immesed in Ganga. Referring to a Allahabad High Court directive, the administration had prevented them from doing so.