The Hindu : SP workers take to street; court arrest

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jul 17, 2002

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SP workers take to street; court arrest

By Our Special Correspondent

Samajwadi Party workers breaking the police cordon near Vidhan Sabha in Lucknow on Tuesday during a demonstration in protest against "massive misappropriation" of public funds by the Mayawati regime. Photo: Subir Roy.

LUCKNOW JULY 16 . In their first major political action to confront the BSP-BJP Government in Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party workers staged an impressive demonstration near the State Secretariat here today to highlight the "failures'' of the present regime.

Nearly 5,000 party workers led by legislators assembled in front of the Secretariat shouting slogans like "Maya teri yahi kahani, sasta khoon manhanga pani''( Mayawati this the story of your government that blood is cheaper than water) and "Pradeshki janata gayee hai toot, band karo sarkari loot'' (The people have been devastated, stop their loot by the government). After demonstrating near the Secretariat for some time, the SP workers advanced towards the main Hazratganj crossing of the city and went on a sit in strike.

The demonstration resulted in total disruption of road traffic in the area for about two hours. Later the demonstrators courted arrest and were removed from there in buses chartered by the police.

The main demand raised by the party was to declare the State a drought-hit area. The failure of the monsoon has already sent alarm signals and if the situation continues for a few more days, irreparable damage would be caused to Kharif operations. The Samajwadi Party demanded steps on a war footing to provide succour to the suffering farmers. Other points raised by the party included deterioration in the law and order situation, rampant corruption at all levels and erratic power supply, especially in the rural areas of the State.

The issue of drought has, meanwhile, drawn the attention of other political parties also. The Congress has demanded a special economic package from the Centre for the State to help the drought hit farmers and postponment of realisation of all government dues.

The Congress legislators led by their leader, Pramod Tiwari, yesterday handed over a memorandum to the Governor, Vishnu Kant Shastri, listing their demands. The memorandum alleged that while the entire kharif crop had been destroyed by the drought, the government had failed to take action to provide any relief to the people.

The Minister for Rural Development and Deputy leader of the BJP legislature party, Lalji Tandon, has also written a letter to the Chief Minister, Mayawati, drawing her attention towards the plight of the farmers.

The Chief Minister has sent urgent directives to the district magistrates to send reports of the situation as prevailing in their areas within the next two days so that the government could decide its next course of action.

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SP workers take to street; court arrest