PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE/ Dehradun
Uttarakhand Congress organised a massive protest in provisional State capital Dehradun on Monday against the Haldwani ‘purification’ incident. Large number of party leaders and workers assembled at the Parade Ground in the morning for the protest march ( Halla Bol) to the residence of the chief minister.
Braving rains, the party workers and leaders started March to the CM’s residence. Shouting slogans against the State government, the protesters were stopped by the police near Hathibadkala. A minor scuffle between the party workers and police occurred when they tried to scale the barricades. Congress leaders said that the ‘purification’ of the ground after the public meeting of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge in Haldwani is not only an insult to the Congress party, but also an insult to the shared culture, social harmony and democratic traditions of Uttarakhand.
The State-in- charge of the party, Kumari Selja said that Uttarakhand is identified by mutual brotherhood and social harmony, not hatred and discrimination. She said the BJP must clarify whether it stands with the Constitution and democracy or with the forces that divide society.
Pradesh Congress Committee president, Ganesh Godiyal said that the ‘purification’ in Haldwani is an attack on democracy and the social consciousness of Uttarakhand. Congress will not accept the politics of dividing society in the name of religion and caste at any cost and will continue to fight against it.
Leader of the Opposition in Vidhan Sabha, Yashpal Arya said that the mentality of labelling any individual or political party as ‘pure’ or ‘impure’ is against the fundamental spirit of the Constitution. He said that the government should break its silence and respond to this matter.
The chairman of the election campaign committee, Pritam Singh said that the BJP’s politics has now shifted from issues of development to creating divisions in society.
The chairman of the election management committee, Harak Singh Rawat said that Uttarakhand will not be allowed to become a laboratory of hatred and discrimination.
Former PCC president Karan Mahara said that the ‘purification’ of the Congress event venue exposes the BJP’s mindset, which seeks to transform political opposition into social animosity.
National general secretary Gurdeep Singh Sappal said that in a democracy, there can be opposition to ideas, but calling a political programme impure is an insult to democratic values. The deputy leader of the opposition Bhuvan Kapri said that the Haldwani incident has exposed the BJP’s divisive thinking in Uttarakhand politics.
DEHRADUN: Ahead of the Vidhan Sabha elections in the State, the Congress party received a shot in arm on Monday when some senior leaders joined the party along with their supporters. Former mayor of Roorkee Yashpal Rana joined the party with a large number of supporters. Senior leaders Manoj Kumar Saini, former Block Pramukh of Yamkeshwar Bhuvnesh Kharwal, Bhajanlal Arya, Advocate Sachin Kumar and Ramkumar Walia joined the party.
