Govt autocratic, will burn effigies across state: Cong

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, June 29

In the backdrop of the Uttarakhand Chief Minister's spat with a teacher a day ago, the Congress here on Friday announced the burning of effigy of the BJP state government across the state on Saturday.

Announcing this, state Congress president Pritam Singh said it was shameful that a teacher that too, a widow, had come to Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat to air her grievance, but the latter instead of hearing her patiently ordered her arrest. 

“Tomorrow we will be burning the effigy of the government at each and every district headquarters. In Dehradun, the effigy will be burnt at Ashley Hall Chowk. A large number of Congress workers will be taking part in the protest,” Pritam Singh said.

He asserted that the government had become autocratic in its functioning and the treatment meted out to a woman teacher amply revealed this. “There has been a tradition of holding Janata Durbars in the state to ensure that complaints of the common man are addressed. But never had a Chief Minister in power behaved in such a manner like the incumbent Chief Minister,” he said.

Referring to the anti-encroachment drive undertaken by the government in the state on the orders of the High Court, Pritam Singh said the anti-encroachment drive should not uproot slum dewellers. He asserted that if need be the Congress would go to the High Court to safeguard their interests.

He also pointed out that it was strange that there was no governance in Uttarakhand and the High Court had to issue strictures to the state government every now and then. 

Joining the issue, former state Congress president Kishore Upadhyay asked the Chief Minister to seek forgiveness from the aggrieved teacher. “This is an insult to the teacher community in Uttarakhand and the Chief Minister must immediately seek forgiveness,” he observed. 

It is shameful that a teacher that too, a widow, has come to Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat to air her grievance, but the latter instead of hearing her patiently ordered her arrest. This is an insult to the teacher community in Uttarakhand and the Chief Minister must immediately seek forgiveness. — Pritam Singh, state congress president