Priyanka Gandhi detained on her way to Sonbhadra to meet victims' families

NEW DELHI: Law and order is now at the centre of the political discourse in Uttar Pradesh with Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi sitting on a day-long dharna in Mirzapur after she was stopped from visiting the village in Sonbhadra where 10 tribals were shot dead two days ago in a land dispute. She refused to furnish a personal bond and insisted that she won’t leave till she meets families of the victims.

Both Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party too are training their guns on the Yogi Adityanath government for the ‘failing’ law and order situation in the state but Gandhi scored a political point by reaching the area before Akhilesh Yadav or Mayawati have done so, in a sign that Congress wants to be seen as the main opposition to the BJP government here which is on the back-foot given that it has suspended five local officials and the CM even conceded that tensions had been simmering in the village with conflicts reported in the past as well. Gandhi continued to sit in protest at a guest house in Mirzapur till late Friday night even as there was no electricity there and has refused to seek bail on charges of trying to breach peace.

The CM on Friday said 29 people, including the main accused, had been arrested for the Sonbhadra killings and said an irregularity in the land transfer way back in 1955 “during Congress rule” sowed the seeds for the current dispute. However, Gandhi questioned what the UP government “had got to hide” by stopping her, especially when she was ready to visit the village along with just four people to respect the prohibitory orders there. “You cannot stop me from standing alongside the families of the victims. You (Yogi) have to stop crime,” Gandhi said. Rahul Gandhi said Priyanka had been illegally arrested.





Smarting under a massive loss in the Lok Sabha elections in UP, the Opposition has been picking the law and order issue to attack the Yogi government Senior BJP leaders in UP, however, said the Opposition’s attacks on law and order won’t connect with the people as the state has seen an unprecedented crackdown on criminals under the Yogi regime with a record number of fatal encounters. “The downand-out Opposition is trying desperately to find an issue to revive itself. Priyanka’s visit would have only stirred up emotions in the area where the government has tried hard to ensure calm and quickly arrested the perpetrators. It is a politically opportunistic trip over an unfortunate incident of crime,” a top BJP leader said. Trinamool too is sending a team to Sonbhadra on Saturday.