New Delhi | Congress General Secretary and Uttar Pradesh in-charge Priyanka Gandhi today after meeting the family members of the Sonbhabra massacre victims announced a compensation of 10 lakhs.
Addressing reporters after meeting the family members, Gandhi said, “My objective has been served as I have met them. I am still under detention, let’s see what the administration says. Congress party will give a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the kin of the person who died in the incident.”
Earlier Twelve members of the victims of Sonbhadra’s met Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra at Chunar Guest House. Priyanka Gandhi was stopped from going to Sonbhadra and detained on Friday. She spent the night at the guesthouse, turning down all requests of the local administration to return without meeting the families of the clash victims.
Finally met the families of the Ubbha massacre. What they have been through is unimaginably brutal and unjust. Every single Indian should stand with them in the name of humanity. pic.twitter.com/232oJITUjj
— Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) July 20, 2019
In a late-night tweet, she said she is ready to go to jail if she is not allowed to go ahead. The second round of talks held between the Congress leaders and local administration late in the night proved futile and Priyanka preferred staying back in the guesthouse along with her supporters, the party sources said Saturday.
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Earlier in a series of tweets, Priyanka said Uttar Pradesh government sent ADG Varanasi Brij Bhushan, Commissioner Varanasi Deepak Agarwal and DIG to tell her to return without meeting the victims.
“I have clearly stated that I have come here not to violate any law but to meet the victims,” she said and also posted a video showing the officials leaving Chunar Fort in Mirzapur at 1.15 AM. In another tweet, she said that her advocates have told her that her detention is totally illegal.
“They (officials) are sitting with me for around one hour. They did not tell me the ground of detention nor showed any papers,” she said.
The Congress general secretary also shared a video of aggrieved Sonbhadra families mourning the death of their near ones. “Is it a crime to wipe these tears?” she asked in a tweet.
Congress legislature party leader Ajay Kumar Lallu who was with Priyanka told PTI that water and power connections were cut in the night to force the Congressmen to return but they remained at the guest house insisting on permission to meet the victims.
“At around 4.30 AM, Priyanka Gandhi sat with the party workers. The government had made no arrangements for breakfast at the guest house. Local residents and party workers are making arrangements,” he added.
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In Lucknow, Congressmen spent the night at the GPO Park before the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in solidarity with Priyanka. “We will continue to sit here till Priyankaji is kept in the guesthouse in Mirzapur and not allowed to meet the victims,” party spokesman Anshu Awasthi said.
Priyanka was Friday detained and stopped from going to Sonbhadra where 10 people were gunned down this week, triggering a standoff with the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh. The administration detained her under 151 CrPC citing prohibitory orders and brought her to the guesthouse.
Ten people were killed and 28 injured in the clash between supporters of village head Yagya Dutt and Gond tribals over a piece of land in Sonbhadra’s Ghorawal area on Wednesday. Dutt’s supporters allegedly opened fire on the tribals.
Twenty-nine people, including Dutt and his brother, were arrested. Prohibitory orders are in force in Ghorawal area in Sonbhadra district and thorough checking of vehicles is on to monitor the movement of people.
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