New Delhi, Oct 1 Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and his sister and party General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra along with scores of leaders including Adhir Ranjan Choudhry, Ajay Kumar Lallu, Randeep Surjewala and Jitin Prasada tried to march towards Hathras on Thursday but were detained by the police and escorted back to Delhi.
Priyanka Gandhi said "the UP government is showing its arrogance instead of delivering justice it is doing injustice and our struggle will go on."
The high political optics saw Rahul Gandhi fall down and police resorting to lathicharge on the Congress workers but the party is now trying to create a 'Nirbhaya moment' in UP to corner the Yogi government.
It was the 2012 Nirbhaya gangrape case in the national capital that rocked the nation and even the Congress government in Delhi but this time it seems the roles have reversed and Hathras gangrape has occurred in BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh and the opposition is blaming the government for a cover-up.
Jitin Prasada who met the family of the victim in Delhi, said that "this is pathetic that the government of the day is trying to cover up the whole issue, there is no politics as we only wanted to meet the family."
Rahul Gandhi too seen was arguing with police officials that he wanted to go alone but not allowed.
The Congress is seeing it as an opportunity like 'Nirbhaya' which rocked the nation and brought the UPA government to its knees and the party is now trying to build momentum around the issue.
The Congress, since the news broke of the death of the victim, has been at the forefront of agitation from candle march across the state to holding statewide protests.
The opposition is only doing tokenism in UP as Samajwadi Party's top leaders have not hit the roads except local workers while BSP supremo Mayawati spoke only on Thursday to the media. Only the Congress is hitting the roads to demand justice for the victim, said a Congress leader.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav in a tweet in Hindi said, "After Hathras, a girl has been gang-raped in Balrampur and she has now succumbed. The BJP government should not indulge in a cover-up like in Hathras and must immediately take strict action against the culprits."
While Mayawati demanded that the Chief Minister should be sent back to the Gorakhpur Mutt as he is not able to maintain law and order.
While in UP more such cases have emerged as the Hathras incident continues to smoulder, yet another incident of a Dalit woman being gangraped and killed in Balrampur district has taken place.
According to reports, a 22-year-old Dalit college student was raped and brutalised in Gaisari village of Balrampur on Tuesday.
The Congress is up in arms against the UP government since the migrant crisis when the UP government refused to accept buses from the Congress and instead alleging fraud, registered a case against UP Congress chief Ajay Kumar Lallu.
( With inputs from IANS )
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