Meeting and hugging two of the fifteen victims’ families at the Chunar guest house does not mean a political victory but may be an emotional recourse adopted by the Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. She would have done the same and spoken the same had she met all the rest,whether in Sonbhadra or at Chunar guest house.
But, an avoidable blockade was orchestrated by the state government that has caused more loss for the state government, politically, than gain. Meeting the people after a night long ‘dharna’ obviously the floodlight of politics turned towards Priyanka regardless of the frugal political capital she would make out of the efforts.
Stalemate over Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra meeting families of two Sonbhadra firing victims continued even after some relatives of the victims met the leader at the Chunar guest house on Saturday.
Upset with the district authorities for stopping others from meeting her, the Congress leader again sat on a ‘dharna’ against the high-handedness of the district administration. The Congress leader met the relatives and got emotional while hugging the women and assured them all possible assistance from the party.
“Two relatives of victims have come here to meet me, 15 others are not being allowed. Even I am not being allowed to meet them,” she said.
She further said,” Don’t know why they are doing it”.
“The administration should be protecting the victims’ families. When they were attacked, the authorities were quiet. Now they are treating me as if I am the main culprit.”
Earlier Vadra had said she will not return till she meets the victims’ families. Thereafter, the authorities reportedly brought the family members to meet her. But the victim families told the Congress leader that the administration had no role in their visit to the Chunar guest house.
Meanwhile, several senior Congress leaders, including Jitin Prasada, R P N Singh, Mukul Wasnik, Raj Babbar, Rajeev Shukla and Deependra Hooda, were taken into custody at the Varanasi airport when they arrived from Delhi on way to Mirzapur to join the ‘dharna’.
UP police also detained a delegation of the All India Trinamool Congress at the Varanasi airport which was slated to meet the injured at the hospital in Varanasi and visit Sonebhadra.
The team leader MP Derek O’ Brien said,”ADM and SP have told us that we’ve been detained. We’ve told them that it can’t be Section-144 (prohibits assembly of more than 4 people)as only 3 of us are here. We intend to proceed to BHU Trauma Centre to meet the injured and then go to Sonebhadra.”
When they were denied exit from the airport, the TMC delegation sat on a ‘dharna’.
In Lucknow, a Congress delegation led by Pramod Tiwari, met Governor Ram Naik and handed over a memorandum stating the illegal way, the Mirzapur district authorities have detained Vadra and other party leaders, who were on their way to Sonbhadra.
“This government doesn’t want to do help the victims’ families. Whatever has happened is unconstitutional and undemocratic and it appears that Uttar Pradesh government has implemented undeclared emergency to hide its sins and short comings,” he told media after meeting the Governor here.
(with UNI inputs)
