Priyanka attacks BJP for ‘atrocities on minorities’, protests against nuns’ arrest

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Wednesday, 30 July, attacked the BJP over alleged atrocities on minorities as she protested in the Parliament House complex along with some other Opposition MPs from Kerala against the arrest of two Catholic nuns in Chhattisgarh.

Before the start of Lok Sabha proceedings, Priyanka Gandhi, Congress general secretary K.C. Venugopal, RSP MP N.K. Premchandran and some other Congress MPs from Kerala stage a protest near Makar Dwar of Parliament, demanding the release of the nuns.

Nuns Preethi Merry and Vandana Francis along with Sukaman Mandavi were arrested at Durg railway station on 25 July following a complaint by a local Bajrang Dal functionary, who accused them of forcibly converting three girls from Narayanpur and trafficking them.

"Some nuns from Kerala were ill-treated. They were accused of things they were not doing. They were manhandled and then taken away by Chhattisgarh police. We are protesting against these kinds of attacks on minorities," Priyanka Gandhi told reporters.

"We are demanding an end to this kind of atrocity against minorities. It is not fair at all, they cannot be manhandled and treated like this. You cannot just accuse people of things they are not doing," she said.

Priyanka Gandhi alleged that the government doesn't take action on anything except their publicity, their PR and when elections are coming what face they want to show to the public.

"They do not take action on anything concrete, so I don't expect action but it is our job to push them and pressurise them as much as we can," she said.

A delegation of leaders of the Congress-led UDF alliance in Kerala on Tuesday visited the Durg central jail in Chhattisgarh and met the two Catholic nuns arrested for alleged human trafficking and forced religious conversion.

The delegation later also met Chhattisgarh chief minister Vishnu Deo Sai, who assured them that the matter would be investigated thoroughly.

On the demand for loan waiver for Wayanad, Priyanka Gandhi, who is the MP from there, said, "Even after one year, the victims are still struggling. It is unprecedented that the funds sent by the Central government were sent as loan. How will those people ever repay those loans?"