UP Cong stages sit-in against Pragya’s statement

The Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) on Friday held a dharna (sit-in) at the GPO Park in Lucknow to protest against BJP MP Pragya Thakur’s statement calling Mahatma Gandhi’s killer Nathuram Godse a patriot.

UPCC president Ajay Kumar Lallu led the dharna as party workers sang ‘Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram’ and demanded Pragya Thakur’s dismissal.

Addressing party workers, Lallu said the BJP MP had violated parliamentary decorum by calling Godse a patriot.

He said the Congress followed the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi and condemned the BJP MP’s statement. Lallu said the BJP’s decision to give Lok Sabha tickets to such leaders had added a black chapter in India’s history.

While the BJP was holding ‘panchayats’ and ‘padyatras’ to mark the 150th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, its leaders were hurting the people by making such statements, he said.

The Congress also proposes to hold statewide demonstrations at the tehsil and district headquarters on December 4 in protest against what it describes as the ‘anti-farmer’ policies of the BJP government.