CPI(ML) and The Khet Mazdoor Sabha (KMS) has condemned the arrest of nearly a dozen activists of the party and KMS, who burned an effigy of the Mayawati government in Urai.
During the past weeks agricultural workers were on a hunger strike at the Block Office in Sitapur in connection with demands related to the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). Among them, a Dalit youth, Keshav (aged 30) died at the dharna in the night of 12 February. In response to the government’s insensitivity to the death of the Dalit youth, KMS called for a state-wide protest on 16 February. State Secretary Com Sudhakar Yadav condemned the arrests and said that the incident indicated to what extent the Mayawati government was facilitating the access of the rural poor to provisions under the NREGA.
The protesters were demanding that the family of the deceased be compensated and that the state register a case of murder against the concerned BDO and other officials. Among those arrested are KMS Rajya Parshad Kashiram Varma, and K. S. Rana, Pradhes Sachiv of the Inquilabi Naujawan Sabha. There was also a protest outside the Vidhan Sabha in Lucknow, and a memorandum was also given to the Governor. Protests were also organised in other districts of the state.
