New Delhi: Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on October 8, Friday, paid a surprise visit to a Dalit locality in Lucknow and picked up a broom, reacting to chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s dig at her for sweeping the floor at the Sitapur guest house where she was detained.
Taking on the chief minister for his “casteist comment”, Gandhi Vadra later in a tweet announced that all district committees of the party will clean Valmiki temples on Saturday.
“Today, the chief minister of UP showed his anti-Dalit mentality by giving a casteist statement. Tomorrow, all district Congress committees of UP will clean the Lord Valmiki temples. India will not tolerate the insult of crores of Dalits and women of the country,” Priyanka said in a tweet, tagging a video of her cleaning a premises in the Dalit colony.
आज उप्र के मुख्यमंत्री ने जातिवादी बयान देकर अपनी दलित विरोधी मानसिकता दिखाई।
कल उप्र की सभी जिला कांग्रेस कमेटियां भगवान वाल्मीकि मंदिर में सफाई करेंगी।
देश के करोड़ों दलितों और महिलाओं का अपमान भारत बर्दाश्त नहीं करेगा। pic.twitter.com/RRcT9RmhGG
— Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) October 8, 2021
In a reply to a query over Gandhi Vadra’s act of sweeping the floor during her detention, Adityanath had said, “Janata unko usi layak banana chahti hain, aur janata ne unko usi layak bana diya.”
The line roughly translates to, “People wish to deem her worthy of such work and people have deemed her worthy of such work.”
“These people have no work except spreading nuisance and negativity,” he also said, during an appearance at CNN-News18.
Also read: Caste and the Prospects of Modi and Yogi in the Uttar Pradesh Elections
In response to the chief minister’s remark, Gandhi Vadra went to a Dalit colony and picked up a broom, saying it is a symbol of simplicity and self-respect.
झाड़ू लगाना स्वाभिमान का काम है।
अपनी सोच बदलिए @myogiadityanath pic.twitter.com/E3S6eTxjrZ
— UP Congress (@INCUttarPradesh) October 8, 2021
While speaking with inhabitants of Luv Kush Nagar, the Congress general secretary swept the premises of a Maharshi Valmiki temple there, saying crores of women and sanitation workers in the country use brooms daily for cleaning, a Congress spokesman said.
She also prayed at the temple.
Gandhi Vadra also told people, “He has not humiliated me by saying so, he has humiliated you all as crores of Dalit brothers and sisters are safai karamcharis and they do this work.”
“I have come here for the cleaning work along with you all and let Yogi ji know that cleaning and using a broom is an act of self-respect,” she said.
According to a Hindustan Times report, BJP lawmaker and UP vice-president Vijay Pathak said that Gandhi Vadra’s reaction is a stunt, trying to revive the Congress. “The Congress should also work to sort out problems of Dalits instead of doing stunts. The BJP government is doing a lot of good work and she should also look at that too and give suggestions for what more can be done. We are members of the BJP. Prime Minister Narendra Modi invites suggestions from all sections in his Maan Ki Baat. So Priyanka Gandhi Vadra should show some positivity,” he told the daily.
(With inputs from PTI)