Priyanka Gandhi Keeps Her 'Promise', Reaches Umbha to Meet Families of Sonbhadra Massacre Victims

Lucknow: Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi reached Umbha village of Sonbhadra Monday to meet the families of the victims, who lost their lives in the recent firing incident over a land dispute, roughly a month after she was stopped by authorities from doing so in a turn of events that sparked off a huge political row.

Discarding her visit as ‘mere drama’, BJP spokesperson Chandramohan said, “This is a perfect example of petty politics and drama. The root cause of the entire issue was laid by Congress government in 1955.”

"I had promised the members of affected families of Umbha village, who had come to meet me at Chunar Fort, that I will visit them," she said.

Later, the UP Congress tweeted photographs of her reaching the village, where armed men led by a former village pradhan had gunned down 10 Gond tribals when they resited an attempt to take control of the disputed land on July 17.

In a massacre following a dispute over a 90-bigha piece of land, at least 10 Gond tribals were killed and over 26 injured by the village head Yagya Dutt and hundreds of his accomplices in Umbha village on July 17.

When Priyanka had attempted to visit the victims’ families after the incident, she was stopped at Mirzapur by the district administration and was detained at Chunar Guest House on July 19, as Section 144 of CrPC was in force then.

Refusing to leave without meeting the victim families, she had spent the night at the guest house and finally met some of the victim families who were brought to the guest house.

While leaving for Delhi, Priyanka had promised the people of Umbha village that she will return soon. "I want to tell them that I have fulfilled my objective. I met the family members. I am leaving today, but I shall return,” she had told her party workers at the Chunar guesthouse. Following her visit, the Congress had sent Rs 10 lakh financial assistance to the 10 victim families.

Priyanka has been focussing on Uttar Pradesh lately and has been critical of the Yogi Adityanath government on several issues pertaining to the law and order situation in the state.