Rahul Gandhi is known to be a part-time politician. His now-a-speech-now-a-vacation approach, which led Congress to plummet to an abysmal 52 seats in Lok Sabha 2019, has raised its ugly head again. A day after 1 person was arrested for harassing an SP worker and the Yogi Adityanath government suspended all cops of the Lakhimpur police station, Rahul Gandhi suddenly woke up to target the Chief Minister.
Taking to Twitter, Rahul Gandhi posted a screenshot of the news about an SP worker being harassed while filing her nomination for the local polls and tweeted that in Uttar Pradesh, the name of ‘violence’ has been changed to ‘masterstroke’.
उत्तर प्रदेश में ‘हिंसा’ का नाम बदलकर ‘मास्टरस्ट्रोक’ रख दिया गया है। pic.twitter.com/poT0aOxxBD
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) July 10, 2021
While the tweet of Rahul Gandhi itself resorted to mindless rhetoric, it is pertinent to note that as usual, Rahul Gandhi seems a bit late to the political slugfest.
Unlike in West Bengal, where political violence has been unleashed unabated, in Uttar Pradesh, this incident of harassment was viewed rather strongly by the Yogi Adityanath government.
A day after a woman worker of the Samajwadi Party, who was a proposer for another SP worker filing her nomination, was harassed, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had ordered the suspension of all policemen from Lakhimpur police station.
The Uttar Pradesh government, led by Yogi Adityanath, had decided to suspend the entire police team working in the Lakhimpur police station after two men tried to disrobe a Samajwadi Party leader on Thursday. The suspended policemen include Circle Officer (CO) and Station House Officer.
Based on the complaint of the Samajwadi Party candidate, Ritu Singh, a case has been filed against one Yash Verma and other unknown BJP workers under sections 147, 171f, 354, 392 and 427 of the Indian Penal Code
As per the latest reports, the police have arrested one of the accused named Yash Varma, and have booked several other persons. According to ANI, the arrested accused is a supporter of an independent candidate. According to India Today, however, a second arrest has also been made.
It is pertinent to note here that while Rahul Gandhi has woken up to target Yogi Adityanath even after strict action was taken over the incident of harassment, he is yet to talk about the rampant murder, rape and torture of BJP workers and supporters that has been unleashed in the state of West Bengal.
Only recently, after going through the NHRC committee report, the Calcutta High Court had made scathing observations against the Mamata Banerjee government and the political violence unleashed in the state after TMC won the elections.
The Calcutta HC found that the “stand taken by the petitioners is established that there had been post-poll violence and the state was found on a wrong foot, where throughout it was on a denial mode.” The HC found that several persons were killed in the violence, many suffered sexual violence and grievous injuries, and even minor girls were not spared. Properties of many of them were damaged and a number of them were forced to leave their houses and even migrate to neighbouring states.
The High Court had sharply criticised the West Bengal govt by saying that “till date, the state has not been able to create an atmosphere that could build the confidence of the sufferers to return back to their homes or carry on their occupation.” The court also found that the police didn’t register any cases of the violence, and the complaints were not registered. Instead, cross cases were filed against those who had complained about violence.
The court order said, “Investigation of the cases registered was in a slipshod manner and hardly any arrests were made in such heinous crimes. Some of the cases have not been registered although prima facie they disclosed commission of the cognizable offence. In most of the cases accused have been bailed out.” The HC order said that in some cases of heinous crimes the complaints were registered by police only after the High Court had taken cognizance of the matter.
Despite such scathing remarks from the High Court and the large scale political violence in Bengal, Rahul Gandhi has remained mum on the issue.
The incident that prompted the suspension of all cops from Lakhimpur
On Thursday, two men had attacked the woman leader who had come with a block panchayat candidate to file their nominations. The lady, who was a proposer to a candidate, was disrobed and manhandled by a few men present at the nomination centre. It was reported that the prime accused was a supporter of an independent candidate.
The video of the incident has gone viral on social media, inviting anger against the culprits. In the video, a Samajwadi Party (SP) woman worker was seen being attacked, molested, and her sari snatched by two men as nominations were filed for local polls in Uttar Pradesh. The two men had allegedly attacked the women to ensure their candidate won unopposed.
