On July 17, in an unfortunate and gut-wrenching incident a prolonged land dispute between villagers in Sonbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh and the gram pradhan culminated into a savage shootout where ten villagers died. The gram pradhan, who is the main accused, had been targeting the villagers over the land dispute and had filed several FIRs against them. UP CM Yogi Adityanath taking note of the tragic incident has constituted a high level committee to investigate the Sonbhadra firing incident and asked to submit the report within 10 days. UP CM while talking to the media has also traced roots of the dispute which led to the firing incident and indicated that the seeds of the dispute were sown back in 1955 during Congress’ rule.
Speaking to the media UP CM said: “The land dispute started back in 1955 during the Congress rule, when the land belonging to Gram Panchayat and few people was wrongly registered in the name of Adarsh society and was then wrongly transferred in the name of few people in 1989, at that time also it was Congress rule in the state. Also it has come to our knowledge that few people from the land owners side were taking ‘lagaan’ from the villagers which they stopped in 2017.”
“Once the villagers stopped giving lagaan, the land was sold to Village Head of Umbha village in 2017 after which the Village Head tried to take over the land many times which had led to confrontations earlier as well and which led to the recent firing in which 10 people lost their lives. The matter will be thoroughly investigated by the high-profile committee formed in the case which will investigate the anomalies from 1955 till date. The committee will submit their report within 10 days to the government and no one involved will be spared at any cost,” CM Yogi Adityanath further added.
On Wednesday in a shootout in Sonbhadra, around 10 people were shot dead by criminals over an alleged land dispute while over 20 others suffered injuries. UP CM Yogi Adityanath taking note of the incident had assured that “No one will be spared no matter how big he is”.
“The government has already announced an ex-gratia of 5 lakh for those dead and Rs 50 thousand for the ones who are injured. Also, inspectors Ghorawal and beat constable who did not take prompt action are suspended for their laxity. Till now 27 people have been arrested and weapons used in the incident have been recovered. No one will be spared no matter how big he is; also the role of a Bihar cadre administrative officer will be investigated.” UP CM Yogi Adityanath said. However, as these developments surface, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is yet to make any comments on the issue while the Congress continues to spread fake news over the issue in a bid to gather political steam.
High voltage drama broke out in Uttar Pradesh’s Narayanpur after Priyanka Gandhi Vadra staged Dharna after being stopped by the police on her way to Sonbhadra. Priyanka Gandhi was on her way to Sonabhadra to meet the families of victims of the when she was stopped by the UP Police and taken to a guest house, as a preventive measure to maintain law and order. Congress alleged that Priyanka Vadra was arrested by UP Police.
However, taking note of the erupting controversy, UP DGP OP Singh exposed Congress’ lies and clarified on the situation and pointed out that she was taken to the Chunar Guest House as a preventive measure because Section 144 was imposed in the area after the Sonbhadra shootout incident.
यूपी की अजय सिंह बिष्ट सरकार द्वारा कांग्रेस महासचिव @PriyankaGandhi को सोनभद्र जाने से जबरन रोकना लोकशाही का अपमान है। बगैर लिखित आदेश और संविधान की मूल भावना के विपरीत अजय सिंह बिष्ट सरकार का यह कदम तानाशाही को दर्शाता है। pic.twitter.com/iuoAdzIFys
— Congress (@INCIndia) July 19, 2019
https://twitter.com/INCIndia/status/1152110980886929409
Speaking to The Republic, DGP OP Singh said, “She has been stopped going to Sonbhadra and been taken to the Chunar Guest House because she was doing dharna on the road. It is not detention or arrest. She was just stopped by the local police. In Sonbhadra, Section 144 has been imposed, she was stopped.”
Priyanka Vadra and the Congress have created a spectacle of the tragic incident and have trained their guns at the UP CM, Yogi Adityanath. However, the root cause of the land dispute in Sonbhadra and the shootout, which is the illegal land transfer done decades ago during the Congress rule, shall serve as a bitter pill for the Congress to swallow and they make every move to ignore the fact while Priyanka Vadra attempts to earn political brownie points by creating a ruckus in the area.
