News Analysis India

Tag: UP government

  • BJP will pay a heavy price Lakhimpur Kheri incident, says Sharad Pawar 

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: NCP supremo Sharad Pawar warned the BJP on Tuesday that it will have to pay a heavy price for the Lakhimpur Kheri incident and asserted that the entire opposition is with the farmers.

    Describing the violence as an “attack on farmers”, Pawar, a former Union Agriculture Minister, said its responsibility lies with the BJP governments at the Centre and in Uttar Pradesh and the “people will show them their place.”

    “Whether it is government at the Centre or in Uttar Pradesh, they are not sensitive at all.

    The kind of situation that was created in Jallianwala Bagh, we are witnessing a similar situation in Uttar Pradesh.

    Today or tomorrow, they will have to pay a heavy price for it,” he told reporters here, joining the chorus of criticism over the Sunday incident in which eight persons were killed.

    Expressing anguish over the deaths, Pawar assured the farmers that the entire opposition is with them and will soon take a call on the future course of action.

    He also demanded a probe by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court.

    “I just want to tell them that they would not succeed in suppressing the farmers’ voice.

    Farmers from the entire country are united and will fight against this misuse of power by those sitting in government,” he said Pawar accused the BJP governments of being “insensitive”, saying they are “not even ready to express grief over the death of farmers”.

    He also lashed out at the UP government for preventing opposition leaders, including MPs and chief ministers, from visiting Lakhimpur Kheri.

    It is like murdering their fundamental rights in a democracy, he alleged.

    “This can be done for a day or two but in the long term, they wouldn’t succeed. People will show them their place,” Pawar said while asserting that opposition is united on this issue. Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut also on Tuesday called for joint action by political parties against this “oppression”.

    The Shiv Sena and the Congress, along with NCP, jointly run the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra, after the Sena quit the BJP-led NDA alliance in 2019.

    “Lakhimpur Kheri violence has shaken the nation, Priyanka Gandhi has been arrested by the UP government, opposition leaders are being restricted from meeting farmers.

    There is a need for joint opposition action against oppression by the Government in UP,” Raut tweeted.

    Eight people were killed Sunday as violence erupted during a farmers’ protest claiming the lives of both farmers and BJP workers ahead of a visit to Lakhimpur.

    Four of the dead were farmers, allegedly knocked down by vehicles driven by BJP workers. The others were BJP workers and a driver who were allegedly pulled out of the vehicles and lynched by the protesters.

    The UP Police has lodged a case against Union minister Ajay Mishra’s son but no arrest has been made so far.

  • BJP will pay a heavy price for Lakhimpur Kheri incident, says Sharad Pawar 

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: NCP supremo Sharad Pawar warned the BJP on Tuesday that it will have to pay a heavy price for the Lakhimpur Kheri incident and asserted that the entire opposition is with the farmers.

    Describing the violence as an “attack on farmers”, Pawar, a former Union Agriculture Minister, said its responsibility lies with the BJP governments at the Centre and in Uttar Pradesh and the “people will show them their place.”

    “Whether it is government at the Centre or in Uttar Pradesh, they are not sensitive at all. The kind of situation that was created in Jallianwala Bagh, we are witnessing a similar situation in Uttar Pradesh. Today or tomorrow, they will have to pay a heavy price for it,” he told reporters here, joining the chorus of criticism over the Sunday incident in which eight persons were killed.

    Expressing anguish over the deaths, Pawar assured the farmers that the entire opposition is with them and will soon take a call on the future course of action.

    He also demanded a probe by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court.

    “I just want to tell them that they would not succeed in suppressing the farmers’ voice. Farmers from the entire country are united and will fight against this misuse of power by those sitting in government,” he said Pawar accused the BJP governments of being “insensitive”, saying they are “not even ready to express grief over the death of farmers”.

    He also lashed out at the UP government for preventing opposition leaders, including MPs and chief ministers, from visiting Lakhimpur Kheri.

    It is like murdering their fundamental rights in a democracy, he alleged.

    “This can be done for a day or two but in the long term, they wouldn’t succeed. People will show them their place,” Pawar said while asserting that opposition is united on this issue. Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut also on Tuesday called for joint action by political parties against this “oppression”.

    The Shiv Sena and the Congress, along with NCP, jointly run the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra, after the Sena quit the BJP-led NDA alliance in 2019.

    “Lakhimpur Kheri violence has shaken the nation, Priyanka Gandhi has been arrested by the UP government, opposition leaders are being restricted from meeting farmers. There is a need for joint opposition action against oppression by the Government in UP,” Raut tweeted.

    Eight people were killed Sunday as violence erupted during a farmers’ protest claiming the lives of both farmers and BJP workers ahead of a visit to Lakhimpur.

    Four of the dead were farmers, allegedly knocked down by vehicles driven by BJP workers. The others were BJP workers and a driver who were allegedly pulled out of the vehicles and lynched by the protesters.

    The UP Police has lodged a case against Union minister Ajay Mishra’s son but no arrest has been made so far.

  • Priyanka’s detention at Lakhimpur Kheri: Shiv Sena calls for joint Opposition action

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: With opposition leaders prevented from going to Lakhimpur Kheri, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Tuesday called for joint action by political parties against this “oppression” and will meet Rahul Gandhi in this regard.

    Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra who reached Lakhimpur Kheri in the wee hours on Monday was detained in Sitapur and was not allowed to enter the village where eight persons lost their lives in violent clashes on Sunday.

    Many other leaders from opposition parties, including the Congress, AAP, SP and the BSP, have been detained by the UP government and prevented from going to Lakhimpur Kheri.

    “Lakhimpur Kheri violence has shaken the nation, Priyanka Gandhi has been arrested by the UP government, opposition leaders are being restricted from meeting farmers. There is a need for joint opposition action against oppression by the Government in UP,” Raut tweeted.

    He also said that he will be meeting former Congress president Rahul Gandhi at 4.15 PM today to chalk out a joint opposition strategy.

    The Shiv Sena and the Congress, along with NCP, jointly run the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra, after the Sena quit the BJP-led NDA alliance in 2019.

  • WATCH | Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel stopped at Lucknow airport, disallowed to visit Congress office

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel was prevented from coming out of Lucknow’s Chaudhary Charan Singh Airport Tuesday when he arrived to visit the state Congress office and meet party leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

    Baghel sat on a dharna at the airport after being disallowed to go to the Uttar Pradesh Congress office amid widespread protest over the Lakhimpur Kheri violence.

    “I am being stopped from going out of Lucknow airport without any orders,” he wrote in tweet with a photo of him sitting on the floor at the airport.

    pic.twitter.com/xoZpzNswwC
    — Bhupesh Baghel (@bhupeshbaghel) October 5, 2021
    The Chhattisgarh chef minister reasoned with the police on duty as to why he was being stopped but to no avail, a Congress spokesman said.

    “Why am I being stopped? I am not going to Lakhimpur where there are prohibitory orders in place.

    I am only going to PCC (Congress office),” he asked the police personnel.

    Talking to mediapersons at the airport, Baghel said he does not plan to go to Lakhimpur Kheri but to the Congress office where he was scheduled to address a press conference later in the day.

    Baghel also said he has come to meet party national general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra who is currently in custody at Sitapur.

    The Uttar Pradesh government had Monday asked the Lucknow airport authority not to allow Chhattisgarh chief minister and the Punjab deputy chief minister who had to visit Lakhimpur Kheri in view of the violence that erupted there.

    Eight people were killed Sunday as violence erupted during a farmers’ protest claiming the lives of both farmers and BJP workers ahead of a visit to Lakhimpur by Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya.

    “After the incident in Lakhimpur, the district magistrate has imposed prohibitory orders there to maintain law and order.

    It is requested that you should not allow Chhattisgarh CM and Punjab deputy CM at the CCS Airport in Lucknow,’ Additional Chief Secretary, Home, Awanish Kumar Awasthi had said in a letter dated October 3 to the Airport Authority of India (AAI).

    ALSO WATCH:

    Lakhimpur Kheri Violence: What all happened in 24 hours at the farmers’ protest:

  • ‘Can’t be detained for more than 24 hours’: P Chidambaram calls Priyanka Gandhi’s detention illegal

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Describing Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s detention as “totally illegal”, senior party leader P Chidambaram on Tuesday said it has “conclusively” established that there is no rule of law in Uttar Pradesh, and alleged that the police seem to be carrying out Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s law and his order.

    Gandhi was detained in Sitapur on her way to Lakhimpur Kheri where eight people were killed on Sunday.

    While four of the dead in Sunday’s incident were farmers, allegedly knocked down by vehicles driven by BJP workers travelling to welcome Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, the others included BJP workers and their driver who were allegedly lynched.

    In a statement, Chidambaram said, the facts and circumstances concerning Gandhi’s detention in Sitapur “conclusively establish that there is no rule of law in UP”.

    “She was ‘arrested’ at 4.30 am on Monday, 4th October. She has been detained in the PAC guest house at Sitapur. The District Collector and the judicial magistrate concerned are both stationed in Sitapur. Her arrest and detention are totally illegal and an abuse of power,” the former home minister said.

    “The arresting police officer told her she was arrested under Section 151 of the CrPC. Any person arrested under S.151 cannot be detained for more than 24 hours, unless there is an order of the judicial magistrate under any other provision of law,” Chidambaram said.

    She has been in detention for more than 30 hours and has not been produced before a judicial magistrate, he pointed out.

    “There is no order of any judicial magistrate. Her constitutional rights under Articles 19 and 21 have been grossly violated. Her ‘arrest’ violated several provisions of the CrPC,” he said.

    “She was arrested by a male police officer — which is illegal. There was no memorandum of arrest and it was not served upon her and her signature was not taken – which is illegal,” Chidamabram said.

    “Law and Order in UP seem to mean Mr Adityanath’s law and Mr Adityanath’s order. The police in UP seem to be not obeying the law but are carrying out Mr Adityanath’s law and Mr Adityanath’s order,” he charged.

    Chidambaram asserted that this was “grossly illegal and utterly shameful”.

    The Congress party strongly condemns the alleged high-handed and unconstitutional acts of the UP government and police, he said in his statement.

  • Lakhimpur Kheri: Drones monitoring Priyanka Gandhi, not allowed to meet lawyers, say Congress leaders

    By PTI

    SITAPUR/LUCKNOW: Why has the person behind the killing of four farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri not been arrested while she has been under detention for 28 hours without an FIR, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi asked on Tuesday as her colleagues alleged that she was not being allowed to meet her lawyers.

    Priyanka Gandhi and other Congress leaders have been in detention beyond 24 hours and a drone camera deployed over the 2nd Battalion PAC guesthouse in Sitapur where they have been kept, Congress office-bearers claimed.

    “She is not being allowed to meet her lawyers and the administration is not telling her reasons for her detention,” Congress media and communication vice chairperson Pankaj Srivastava said.

    ALSO READ | ‘Whoever protests in UP, gets beaten, oppressed’: Priyanka hits out at Yogi government

    Besides Priyanka Gandhi, state Congress president Ajay Kumar Lallu, national secretary Dheeraj Gurjar, Youth Congress national president BV Srinivas, party MLC Deepak Singh are also under detention, he said.

    The Congress general secretary was detained in Sitapur on Monday on her way to Lakhimpur Kheri, where eight people died and several others were injured on Sunday in the bloodiest clash since the farmers’ protest over the Centre’s agri laws began last year.

    On Tuesday, she shared a video on Twitter purportedly showing a group of protesting farmers being mowed down by an SUV.

    “@narendramodi ji your government has detained me for the past 28 hours without any order or FIR. Why the person who ran over farmers has not been arrested yet?” she said in a tweet in Hindi.

    Her party colleague Gurjar shared another video on the microblogging site showing a drone, which he claimed was flying above the guesthouse where Congress leaders have been detained.

    “The government is so scared of Priyanka Gandhi that even after keeping her under detention, it is using a drone to keep an eye on her,” he tweeted in Hindi.

    ALSO READ | ‘Remember the farmers who got India her freedom’: Priyanka slams PM Modi’s silence over Lakhimpur Kheri deaths 

    As several Congress leaders took to social media, party workers staged demonstrations till late Monday night and slept on the pavement outside the PAC battalion complex.

    The crowd of Congress workers and supporters was thin on Tuesday morning but started to swell after 10 am as more party activists from all over the state thronged Sitapur and occupied all hotels in the vicinity.

    District officials said the law and order situation was in control.

    According to Srivastava, the “illegal detention” of party leaders has led to anger among Congress workers.

    “The prime minister is coming for a celebration in Lucknow while the farmers of Lakhimpur are waiting for justice,” he added.

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in Lucknow on Tuesday to inaugurate a programme of the ‘Azadi ka Amrut Mahotsav’ celebrations.

    Four of the eight dead in Sunday’s violence were farmers, allegedly knocked down by vehicles driven by BJP workers travelling to welcome Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya to an event in the area. The others were identified as BJP workers and their driver allegedly pulled out of the vehicles and then lynched by the protesters.

    The Uttar Pradesh Police has lodged a case against Union minister Ajay Mishra’s son Ashish but no arrest has been made so far.

  • CM Yogi Adityanath expands Uttar Pradesh Cabinet ahead of 2022 polls

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW: Just five months ahead of crucial electoral battle in Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday evening expanded his cabinet for the second time in his 4.5 years of tenure.

    The new cabinet saw seven new ministers taking oath, including one cabinet and six ministers of state. With this expansion, Yogi’s ‘pack of 60’ is now complete.

    The inductees, keeping the poll math in mind, namely are — Jitin Prasada, Chhatrapal Singh Gangwar, Paltu Ram, Sangeeta Balwant Bind, Sanjeev Kumar Gond, Dinesh Khatik, and Dharmaveer Singh Prajapati.

    AK Sharma, PM Narendra Modi’s trusted bureaucrat who had taken voluntary retirement as MSME secretary in Delhi and joined the BJP in Lucknow in Janaury this year, failed to make it to the Yogi cabinet. However, speculations about the possible induction of the ex-IAS officer who has been made MLC in UP, were rife. Sharma was entrusted with organisational responsibility when appointed vice-president of UP BJP in June, this year.

    However, the Sunday expansion is been seen as an exercise by the ruling party to balance various caste equations in the cabinet. Significantly, the Yogi government did not touch any of the sitting ministers to make space for the new ones.

    However, through expansion of Yogi cabinet, the ruling BJP has tried to continue its OBC and scheduled caste (SC) outreach agenda by inducting three OBCs and two SC among seven ministers sworn in on Sunday evening at Raj Bhawan.

    Congress senior and prominent leader Jitin Prasada, a Brahmin, who had joined the BJP in June, this year, was the only one to be sworn-in as the cabinet minister in Yogi government. Rest six took the oath of the office of minister of state.

    As per the poltical pundits, Jitin Prasada got the cabinet rank to placate the allegedly sulking Brahmins in the state.

    The pack of seven newly inducted ministers shows that the BJP has worked out the expansion minutely as it has given space even to its only Scheduled Tribe (ST) MLA Sandeep Kumar Gond from Sonebhadra.

    However, most of the new inductees belong to the castes that had no or very less represention in the state government.

    Moreover, two SC MLAs – Paltu Ram, MLA from Balrampur and Dinesh Khatik, MLA from Hastinapur – have been inducted into Yogi cabinet. While Palturam belongs to Jatav community , Khatik is a Sonker by caste.

    On the other, the party has continued with its OBC outreach strategy by inducting three ministers — Dharmveer Prajapati, Chhatrapal Gangawar and SangeetaBalwant Bind.

    Chhatrapal Gangwar, a Kurmi by caste, was sworn in as Minister of State. He is MLA from Baheri constituency in Bareilly parliamentary segment. Gangwar’s elevation is being seen as a replacement to Santosh Gangwar, an 8-time MP from Bareilly, who was dropped from Modi cabinet recently.

    Similarly, Ghazipur MLA  Sangeeta Balwant Bind’s elevation as minister of state in Yogi Cabinet is also being seen as BJP’s bid to create its own Nishad leadership even after having forged an alliance with NISHAD party, led by Dr Sanjay Nishad.

    So far Yogi cabinet has 23 cabinet ministers, nine Ministers with Independent charge and 21 ministers of state taking the number to 53. The first expansion of the UP cabinet was done in August 2019.

  • Yogi Adityanath to expand cabinet to balance caste, regional aspirations

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW:  Attempting to balance caste and regional aspiration, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will expand his ministry on Sunday evening, months ahead of the crucial assembly polls.

    The swearing-in ceremony is scheduled at Gandhi Auditorium in the Raj Bhavan at 5.30 pm, officials said.

    Officials, however, remained tight-lipped over the number and names of ministers to be sworn in amid the name of Congress Brahmin leader Jitin Prasada, who switched over to the saffron party, is doing rounds.

    UP Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma had recently told PTI that inspired by the work of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Prasada wanted to join the BJP much earlier.

    Prasada had been inducted into the BJP amid its internal worries about the thin representation of the community in the party.

    Repeated efforts to contact Prasada proved futile.

    Sanjay Nishad’s name, whose party NISHAD — Nirbal Indian Shoshit Hamara Aam Dal — will contest the 2022 UP assembly elections in alliance with the BJP is also making rounds.

    Nishad was in the news recently for his demand from the BJP to project him as a deputy chief minister face in the elections.

    He had claimed that 18 per cent of voters belong to Nishad (fishermen) community which plays a deciding role on 160 assembly seats.

    The Nishad Party had contested the 2017 assembly elections as an ally of the Peace Party, led by Dr Ayub, and contested 72 seats.

    Its candidate Vijay Mishra had won from Gyanpur seat in Bhadohi district.

    In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the party had allied with the BJP and Sanjay Nishad’s son Praveen Nishad was nominated from Sant Kabir Nagar from where he won the elections.

    Apart from this, the name of former Uttarakhand Governor Baby Rani Maurya is also doing the rounds as a probable face for induction in the Yogi Adityanath ministry.

    There are 53 ministers in the UP Cabinet at present and seven more can be inducted as per the constitutional limit.

    At present, there are 23 Cabinet ministers in UP including the chief minister. There are nine ministers of state with independent charges and there are 21 ministers of state.

    The maximum strength of the UP Cabinet can be 15 per cent of the total strength of its Assembly.

    The Uttar Pradesh Assembly has 403 seats. In the 2017 UP Assembly elections, the BJP had won 312 seats out of the 403 seats. Its ally Apna Dal (Sonelal) had won nine seats.

    The Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) too had contested the 2017 assembly polls in alliance with the BJP and had won four seats but it had walked out of the alliance in 2019.

  • UP govt relaxes COVID curbs by allowing 100 people to gather in non-containment zones

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh government has relaxed the COVID-19 lockdown norms from Sunday by allowing a maximum of 100 people to gather at a place outside COVID-19 containment zones.

    In a letter addressed to police and administration officials in the state, Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Awasthi said, “In closed and at open places, a maximum of 100 persons have been allowed to gather at a place, while following COVID-19 protocol. Earlier, as per June 19 government order, a maximum of 50 persons were allowed to gather at open and closed places.”

    A distance of two yards will have to be maintained in seating arrangement for guests.

    Toilets should be adequately cleaned and sanitised, the statement said.

    On September 7, activities were allowed in all the districts of UP on all days of the week from 6 am to 11 pm.

  • UP govt should answer people’s questions: Priyanka Gandhi

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Sunday attacked the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh, alleging that it had “failed” on several counts such as giving jobs to people, dues to farmers and in reining in price rise.

    The Congress general secretary said the Uttar Pradesh government should have answered people’s questions on its four-and-a-half years in power, but it is continuing to peddle “lies, lies and more lies”.

    She was referring to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s remarks on Sunday that Uttar Pradesh remained riot-free while the governance saw a total changeover from the past providing benefits of welfare schemes directly to the deserving.

    In a tweet in Hindi, Gandhi said, “On giving jobs to lakhs and filling up vacant posts, in giving dues on sugarcane, wheat, paddy, potato to the farmers, in reducing electricity prices, in reining in price rise, UP government failed”.

    In another tweet, she alleged, “What did the BJP government make Uttar Pradesh, number 1 in malnutrition, number 1 in crimes against women, number 1 in kidnappings, number 1 in murder cases, number 1 in atrocities against Dalits.

    ” Gandhi has been criticising the performance of the Yogi Adityanath government on various fronts and said last week that people are going to change the government and the chief minister in the upcoming assembly polls.