CAA protests: Congress demands Rs 50 lakh for UP Police firing victims

UP Cong president Ajay Kumar Lallu writes to Governor Anandiben Patel

Upping the ante against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the police action against protesters, Congress has written to Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel demanding an ex-gratia of Rs 50 lakh each to the family of protesters killed in police firing.

The party has also demanded a government job for a family member of the victims, apart from Rs 5 lakh to the injured along with free medical care.

In a letter to the governor, Congress’ UP unit president Ajay Kumar Lallu also urged that a High Court judge probe the incidents of violence across the state over CAA.

Lallu claimed more than two dozen people had died in the police firing in UP, hundreds had been injured and thousands had been rounded up and sent to jail.

He noted the protests by the public, including students, intellectuals, social organisations etc were always peaceful. However, they turned violent after the police allegedly tried to suppress their voices under instructions from their political masters.

The Congress leader charged the government with provoking the ‘peaceful protesters’ by not allowing them to voice their sentiments, so as to sully these protests when they turned violent and spiralled out of control.

Lallu claimed that scores of ‘innocent people’ and intellectuals were picked up during the night hours and kept at undisclosed locations without informing their family members.

The party observed that not only did the Adityanath government in UP fail to maintain law and order, it also allowed the situation to deteriorate. Congress has also demanded the immediate release of people under detention.

Meanwhile, the government has started the process of identifying the perpetuators of violence and arson in the state and attaching their properties to realise the fine for the destruction of public and private properties in different places, including Lucknow, Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Sambhal, Rampur, Kanpur etc.

Scores of UP policemen were also wounded during brickbats and alleged firing by the violent mobs.