Lucknow: Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi here on Monday hit out at Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, saying there is no place for violence or "revenge" in the country.
In a dig at Adityanath's earlier warning that rioters damaging public property will have to pay, the Congress general secretary said saffron denotes Hinduism, a religion that does not advocate violence or "revenge".
Concluding her four-day visit to Lucknow days after statewide violent clashes over the Citizenship Amendment Act, she told mediapersons that her own security was not a big issue.
"The issue is the safety of common man in UP," she asserted.
"This is the country of Lord Krishna — who was the symbol of compassion. Lord Ram was a symbol of compassion. Everybody dances in the marriage procession (baraat) of Lord Shiva. There is no place for 'hinsaa' (violence), 'badlaa' (revenge) and 'ranj' (anger) in the country's soul.
Sharpening her attack on the Chief Minister, she said: "He is wearing the dress (vastra) of a Yogi. He is wearing saffron clothes. This bhagwa (saffron) is not yours, it belongs to 'dhaarmik' (religious), 'aadhyaatmik' (spiritual) tradition of Hindustan. It is a symbol of the Hindu religion. Uss dharma ko dhaaran kariye (imbibe that religion). In that religion, there is no place for anger, violence and revenge. This is all I have to say."
Releasing copies of a 14-page memorandum submitted to Governor Anandiben Patel, she said there is ample proof in the document on how the police and the administration indulged in wrongdoing and vandalism.
It claimed that a total of 23 deaths occurred in the state in the alleged police excesses during the anti-CAA protests while the UP government claims 19 lives were lost.
Hitting back, UP deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma accused Priyanka of denigrating Hinduism and said that she supports those who indulged in violence.
He added that the Congress leader had violated rules to gain publicity, referring to a recent incident when Priyanka defied police restriction to visit the house of an anti-CAA activist in Lucknow.