UKD workers and local leaders protested against the installation of the statue of Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyay at Nepali Farm
There was deep dissatisfaction and resentment among the local population regarding the installation of a statue of Deendayal Upadhyaya at the Nepali Farm in Rishikesh.
People are raising questions as to what direct connection did he have with Uttarakhand or his contribution of the hill people of Garhwal and Kumaon including for the nation when our freedom fighters and revolutionaries were sacrificing their lives to free India from deadly clutches of the colonial British. ? What was his contribution to the state’s creation? Asked the people of Rishikesh and the UKD activists.
The protestors against the installation of the statue of Pt . Deen Dayal Upadhyay said that Uttarakhand is not an ordinary state, but it came into existence after the result of the protracted relentless struggle and countless sacrifices of the Uttarakhand Statehood Movement activists, the senior citizens, the youths and students, our ex-servicemen, women power and after 43 invaluable sacrifices.
Therefore, the public unambiguously demands that a statue of the brave woman Karnavati, who symbolizes the identity and valor of this land, be installed here instead of the statue of Deen Dayal Upadhyay whose contribution for the hill people has been a big zero.
Yet why is this decision being made, ignoring local sentiments? Is this an attempt to prioritize a political ideology over public sentiment? Is there an attempt to impose external symbols, overshadowing Uttarakhand’s own heroes?
The Uttarakhand Kranti Dal unambiguously warns—if the public’s demands are ignored, this protest will escalate into a mass movement said one of the leaders at the venue. He warned :
UKRAND will not tolerate any tampering with the identity of Uttarakhand!
Meanwhile on Sunday several people associated with Ankita Bhandari Nyaya Yatra literally tore the poster and hoardings of the BJP in which a picture of Uttarakhand BJP incharge Dushyant Gautam was printed. The protestors included infuriated women said that they will not tolerate his picture on any of the BJP posted and banners in Uttarakhand and tore off the banner in the presence of the police personnel who could do anything but were mere spectators. They said a politician whose name has allegedly appeared in social media as a VIP uttered by none other than their party’s own EX MLA Suresh Rathore now expelled though can’t be tolerated on the land of abode of Gods at any cost.
