Congress to honour ‘courageous’ UP woman to mark Constitution Day

The Congress has decided to mark Constitution Day (November 26) with a unique gesture — by showing gratitude on behalf of the entire INDIA bloc to Madeeha, a voter from Meerapur Assembly constituency in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar district, at Delhi’s Talkatora Stadium.

The Assembly by-election in Meerapur took place on November 20. On that day, Madeeha’s photo, voter’s slip in hand and facing a revolver-brandishing police officer, went viral on social media. A few other women looked on as she seemingly confronted the officer, standing firm on the road to assert her right to vote.

“Defender” of voters’ rights

“The Congress has decided to acknowledge, appreciate, and honour the rare and exemplary courage shown by the woman, while commemorating Constitution Day, under the theme and motto of “Samvidhan meri jaan” (Constitution is my life) at Talkatora Stadium. She is a defender of voters’ or citizen’s basic constitutional rights as well as democracy,” a Congress functionary told The Federal.

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He said the “valiant woman” would meet Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, at the stadium though it has not yet been announced formally by the party in the interest of her privacy and to ward off any possible obstruction to her journey to the Capital by the police and the UP administration. In case any obstruction comes in her way, Congress leaders would meet her soon, the party worker said.

Multiple Muslim candidates

The Congress move has come amid widespread reservations among party higher-ups about the way the bypolls were held on November 20 in UP’s Meerapur and eight other Assembly constituencies, as well as the Assembly polls in Maharashtra.

In Meerapur, the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) fought the polls as part of the BJP-led NDA. The RLD candidate, Mithlesh Pal, defeated his nearest rival, Samajwadi Party’s Sumbul Rana, by over 30,000 votes. Among other things, Pal’s victory has been attributed to the presence of multiple Muslim candidates from diverse parties, cutting into each other’s votes due to communally charged electioneering.

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The Meerapur Assembly seat was vacated by RLD’s Chandan Chauhan upon being elected to the Lok Sabha in the general elections last summer.