Priyanka Gandhi slams UP govt for demolishing homes of 'innocent'

Lucknow, Feb 24 (PTI) Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Saturday lashed out at the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh, alleging that bulldozers are used to demolish homes of "innocent people" while the "guilty" escape unscathed.

Priyanka Gandhi on Saturday joined the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, which resumed its journey from Moradabad after a two-day halt for the march's final leg in Uttar Pradesh.

She will accompany her brother as the yatra passes through Amroha, Sambhal, Bulandshahr, Aligarh, Hathras, Agra, concluding at Fatehpur Sikri on Sunday, the Congress said.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav is set to join the yatra in Agra on Sunday, a development that comes after the parties reached a seat-sharing arrangement in Uttar Pradesh for the Lok Sabha polls.

"The Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra resumed from Moradabad. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was also present. As the yatra moved through Moradabad, people from different walks of life greeted them," Manish Hindvi, a spokesperson for the Congress' Uttar Pradesh unit, told PTI.

Priyanka Gandhi was to participate in the yatra when it entered Uttar Pradesh in Chandauli but could not because of ill health and subsequent hospitalisation.

Addressing the public in Moradabad, she said, "When I came here in 2022, we had made a plan in the manifesto on how to stop repeated question paper leaks. It consisted of a job calendar, which would have the examination date and the date of appointment. We also spoke about making a commission to address all the injustices that had taken place." The Congress general secretary also said that unemployment and inflation are rising in the country.

"The farmers were protesting yesterday. The farmers are protesting today also but the government is not listening to them. In Uttar Pradesh, bulldozers did not run on the homes of those who crushed farmers under their jeeps, tortured women and leaked question papers. In this government, the bulldozer is not moved on guilty but only on the homes of innocent people," she said.

Speaking about the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, she said "nyay" was added to the name because injustice is being done to women, children and farmers of the country.

She added that "until you bring about a change, your circumstances will not change".

Meanwhile, the Samajwadi Party's Moradabad MP ST Hasan also participated in the yatra.

He said, "At present, the country is going through a terrible situation. Till date, there has never been such a threat to communal harmony. Today, all Indians want that our love and the Ganga-Jamuni culture to remain intact." The yatra will enter Rajasthan and halt in Dholpur on Sunday.

The Congress has said February 26 to March 1 will be break days for the yatra to allow Rahul Gandhi fulfil his long-standing commitment to deliver two lectures at his alma mater Cambridge University in the UK on February 27 and 28.

He will also attend meetings in New Delhi during this period, it has said.

The yatra will resume from Dholpur on March 2. It will then move into Madhya Pradesh and cover Morena, Gwalior, Shivpuri, Guna, Shajapur and Ujjain among other districts.

On March 5, Rahul Gandhi will pay obeisance at the Shri Mahakaleshwar Temple in Ujjain. He had offered prayers at the temple on November 29, 2022, during his Bharat Jodo Yatra. PTI