Mumbai: The alleged manhandling of Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra by the Uttar Pradesh Police shows that the BJP-led state and central governments are scared , senior Congress leader Sachin Pilot said on Monday.
Addressing a press conference here, Pilot said the alleged misbehaviour with Priyanka Gandhi also shows that the Yogi Adityanath-led dispensation has the habit of operating beyond the law of the land .
The former Rajasthan deputy CM demanded a judicial probe into the killing of eight people, including four farmers, on Sunday after violence erupted during a farmers' protest in UP's Lakhimpur Kheri district.
He said those guilty should be given the harshest punishment and the families of the farmers who died should be adequately compensated.
You saw how they behaved with Priyanka Gandhi. I feel that the manhandling with any one leader shows that the BJP governments in the state and Centre are scared," Pilot said.
Priyanka Gandhi and other Congress leaders accompanying her, including MP Deepender Hooda, had reached the Lakhimpur Kheri border in the morning but were not allowed to meet the families of the farmers who died in the violence, the party has alleged.
When our party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi wanted to meet the family of the deceased farmers, the Uttar Pradesh administration and the police misbehaved with her, a woman leader. This reflects its mindset. We condemn this incident, Pilot said.
He said Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi were stopped last year, too, when they were on their way to meet the family of the Hathras rape victim.
Even this time, Priyanka Gandhi was illegally stopped, without any order, and later detained, Pilot said. The former Union minister said while section 144 of the IPC (which prohibits unlawful assembly) was imposed in Lakhimpur Kheri, Chhattishgarh Chief minister Bhupesh Baghel was not allowed to even land at the Lucknow airport. Referring to Haryana Chief Minister M L Khattar's alleged "tit for tat" comment during a meeting of the BJP's Kisan Morcha on Sunday when he told the gathering to form groups of 500 to 1,000 and be prepared to even go to jail, Pilot said if people holding constitutional posts instigate people, it will weaken democracy.
He said over the last one year, farmers have been staging protests against the three agri-marketing laws enacted by the Modi government in September last year and the Congress will extend every possible help to the stir.
Pilot also demanded a thorough probe into the seizure of drugs from the Mundra Port in Gujarat, saying the matter is linked to national security.
Last month, the Department of Revenue Intelligence seized a staggering 2,988 kilograms of heroin at the Mundra Port.