Several Youth Congress (YC) members while heading to gherao state Assembly with their 11-point demands were lathicharged and arrested by police at Lodhipara chowk on Friday noon. Many demonstrators including YC state president Uttam Vasudev sustained injuries due to police action. The president of YC’s Raipur Lok Sabha constituency Vinod Tiwari, general secretary Makhhan Tamrakar and a couple of others, who received grave injuries, were quickly rushed to hospital.
Alleging that anarchy prevailed in the state owing to rising crime, naxal violence, government’s anti-farmer policies, etc, the YC had announced to gherao the Vidhan Sabha much earlier. Accordingly, the members of the organisation started gathering at Lodhipara chowk from Thursday morning onwards where the police had put barricades on way towards Assembly.
The YC had also put a makeshift stage at Lodhipara chowk so that the senior leaders could briefly address the organisation members before commencement of their ‘Assembly gherao’ programme. In the afternoon, the PCC president Nandkumar Patel, Congress Parliamentarian from East Delhi Sandeep Dixit and former Chief Minister Ajit Jogi reached the Lodhipara chowk.
Dixit in his address said the voters were regretting that they gave mandate to the BJP for the second consecutive time in the state. He said achievements of the BJP government in its seven years of power were increasing naxal violence and lawlessness. “The condition of the state would have been worse in the absence of Central schemes like Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) and Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojna (PMGSY),” he added.
Dixit asked the Congress legislators to obstruct Vidhan Sabha proceedings if the cops would lathicharge on demonstrators.
Patel said the days of BJP government were numbered and the Congress would unitedly come in power in the next Vidhan Sabha polls.
Jogi said the state government was completely mired in corruption and was giving asylum to the criminals including liquor mafia. He pointed out recent Silyari murder incident in which the goons of one liquor contractor killed a youth by beating him relentlessly with lathi. He said the BJP government had been exposed because of its misdeeds and the people of Chhattisgarh would throw it from power in the next Assembly elections.
Legislators Dr Renu Jogi, Pratima Chandrakar and Kawasi Lakhma as well as YC state president Uttam Vasudev and other senior YC leaders also addressed the massive crowd.
Thereafter, when the YC members tried to cross the barricades and move ahead, the police first used water canons and then resorted to lathicharge to disperse the demonstrators.
Alleging that the police had taken repressive action against them deliberately, the YC members sat on dharna at Lodhipara chowk. The police arrested all the protestors and then released them at evening.
Condemning police lathicharge on the demonstrators, Vasudev said in spite of barbaric police action on them they would continue their agitation against the state government in democratic and peaceful manner.
On the occasion, legislators Amarjeet Bhagat, Lekhram Sahu, Ambika Markam, Hridayram Rathiya, Padma Ghanshyam Manhar, Saroja Rathore and Badruddin Quraishi along with YC vice president Deepak Mishra, Jogi’s son Amit, Asif Memon, Sandeep Sahu, Pappu Baghel, Indrajeet Singh, Pankaj Mishra, Amin Memon, former YC president Yogesh Tiwari, NSUI state president Sanjeev Shukla and large number of YC members were present.
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