INDIA bloc parties hold statewide protest against suspension of oppn MPs
UP Congress president Ajay Rai and party workers and leaders held a dharna in Lucknow on Friday
The Samajwadi Party (SP), Congress, Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), and Apna Dal (K)—the four INDIA bloc parties in Uttar Pradesh—on Friday staged a protest in Lucknow and other districts of Uttar Pradesh against the suspension of 146 opposition MPs from both Houses of Parliament.
At places such as Prayagraj, Varnansi and Lucknow, some alliance partners held the protest together. In Lucknow, the SP, Congress and the RLD began their protest separately but later merged near the collectorate as their workers raised anti-BJP slogans together.
The opposition MPs were suspended during the Winter Session for demanding a reply from Union home minister Amit Shah on the December 13 Parliament security breach issue. Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Aam Aadmi Party and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) also took part in the protest near the collectorate in Lucknow.
“The members of the Congress, party, RLD, RJD and Communist Party of India (Marxist) took part in the protest. It was a protest by INDIA and not just by the SP,” Samajwadi Party spokesperson Juhie Singh said.
Meanwhile, the SP in a statement issued here said protests were organised on the instructions of party chief Akhilesh Yadav at all the district headquarters of the state, including Lucknow, to protest against the undemocratic method of suspension of 146 MPs.
“The objective of this protest is to save democracy and the Constitution and to remove the BJP government,” the statement added. After the protests, the SP submitted a memorandum addressed to President Droupadi Murmu through the district magistrates. The Congress also submitted memorandums at the collectorates.
The SP leaders, workers and common people from across the state participated in the protests, the statement said. During the protests, the leaders expressed anger over rising inflation, unemployment and corruption besides the anti-farmer, anti-youth and poor policies of the BJP government, it added. State Congress president Ajay Rai, in the middle of the UP Congress’s ongoing ‘UP Jodo Yatra’ sat on a silent dharna in Purkaji in Muzaffarnagar district.
The protests were organised in Lucknow, Ayodhya, Ambedkar Nagar, Mau, Mainpuri, Kannauj, Etawah, Firozabad, Azamgarh, Shahjahanpur, Muzaffarnagar, Ghaziabad, Kanpur Dehat, Kanpur, Amroha, Moradabad, Maharajganj, Sultanpur, Basti, Bahraich, Bhadohi, Prayagraj, Budaun, Sant Kabirnagar, Deoria, Ballia, Azamgarh, Fatehpur, Balrampur, Mathura, Vrindavan, Varanasi, Jhansi, Sonbhadra and Mirzapur districts.
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