22 FIRs against 60 Congress leaders in Uttar Pradesh, mostly for going out to help!

The logic seems to be that if members of the ruling party in the state or NGOs patronised by the state government and the RSS go out for relief work during the lockdown, it is kosher; but not when Congress leaders and workers do so.

Official sources confirm that at least 22 FIRs have been lodged against 60 Congress leaders and workers in the state, most of them in the state capital. An FIR has also been instituted against Sandeep Singh, Secretary to AICC general secretary in charge of Uttar Pradesh, Ms Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, allegedly for ‘cheating’.

The Congress leader has claimed that 6.7 million people in the state had been provided with food and ration by Congress workers during the last two months.

While UPCC president Ajay Kumar Laloo is still in jail following the stand-off between Congress workers and Uttar Pradesh Police over the refusal of the state government to give permission to 1000 buses arranged by the Congress to send back migrant workers, FIRs have been lodged against several other senior Congressmen as well, including several former MLAs including Pankaj Mallick and Anugrah Narain Singh.

“All cases filed against Congress leaders are false and politically motivated. These people are being punished for raising the voice of poor migrant workers who continue to walk thousands of miles and with blisters on their feet. They are hungry and need help. When Congress leaders went out to help them, they were booked,” said senior Congress leader Lallan Kumar.

“These leaders were out on streets to help the people. How can one help these migrant workers sitting at home? And when they went out, cases were lodged against them,” he added.

The Congress general secretary had sought permission of the UP Government to mobilise 1000 buses to transport stranded migrant workers to their native places on May 16. The offer was accepted on May 18 and the Congress was asked to give details of the buses including the details of the drivers and the conductors. But on May 19 evening, the state government said only 879 of the 1,000 vehicles were buses, and the rest were three-wheelers, other vehicles or did not have fitness certificates.

This sparked angry reactions from the Congress. Congress national general secretary Priyanka Gandhi said that the Congress wanted to help in a positive way and did not want to indulge in politics. "This is not the time to play politics, all parties should set aside politics and help people," she said.

On May 19 FIRs were lodged against Sandeep Singh, Priyanka’s personal secretary and Laloo. On May 20 Laloo was arrested first in Agra for sitting on a dharna to protest against the UP government for not granting permission to allow buses but once he was granted bail by an Agra court, he was re-arrested by a team of Lucknow police in a second case.

After May 20 there was spurt in cases filed by the police against Congress leaders.

“The scheme of things clearly shows that Yogi government is baffled by the popularity Congress leaders have gained because people know that this is the party which wants to help the poor, while the BJP is a pro-rich party,” Amarnath Agarwal, Congress leader said.

The leaders say that Government is treating arrested Congress leaders like criminals. They say that the UPCC president in jail is not being allowed to meet his lawyer or his family members.

“Congress has a history of facing despots like Yogi. We faced the tyranny of the British and will fight the autocracy of Yogi Government too. We will not budge from service to the people,” said Virendra Madan, Congress spokesman.