UP govt on backfoot as Cong woos Brahmins

With the Congress consistently wooing the Brahmin community, the Uttar Pradesh government headed by Yogi Adityanath is on the backfoot.

The government removed the SP of Mainpuri after an uproar and the case was handed over to CBI after a girl studying in Jawahar Navodaya Vidayalaya died under mysterious circumstances and the family cried foul but the local police termed it is a suicide.

On September 16, the body of 17-year-old Anushka Pandey, a Class 11 student, was found hanging from the ceiling of her hostel room.

The Congress spearheaded the campaign with its Brahmin face in UP Jitin Prasada who visited the family and reported the matter to Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi who wrote a letter to the Chief Minister.

Talking to , Prasada said "From day one we are saying that an impartial investigation should be done but under this government the Brahmins are denied justice, forget about protection many victims are still waiting for justice. I will fight for their cause."

The party under Brahmin Chetna Parishad has been trying to raise the cause of the Brahmins who are miffed with the Rajput domination in the state. Congress is trying to woo the community telling them they are bring pushed to side in the BJP and extend its foothold in the dominant community.

The Brahmins are not in large number compared to Dalits and OBCs but formed a core vote base of the Congress until the Mandir agitation pushed them over to the BJP.

N.D. Tiwari was the last Brahmin Chief Minister of the state but since then no Brahmin has occupied the post.

The Congress is moving on with a well thought out strategy to wean away the Brahmins from BJP.

In her letter to Adityanath, Priyanka Gandhi, who is also Congress in-charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh, said the incident was "heart wrenching" and it assumes importance in the context of the security of girls studying in various institutions in the state.

"The body of Subhash Pandey's daughter was found in the hostel under mysterious circumstances. Injury marks were found on her body but post-mortem report said no injury marks were there on the body. The deceased's family has said the girl was murdered," Priyanka wrote in the letter. She alleged that the body of the girl was also cremated in absence of the family members.

( With inputs from IANS )