The Congress staged a dharna on Mall Avenue here on Tuesday against the “insult” of Jyotirmath Shankaracharya Swami Avimukteshwaranand and the renaming of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).
The protesters had planned to gherao the Legislative Assembly, but were stopped by police near the Congress’s state headquarters.
“The police have placed over 200 Congress leaders across the state under house arrest to prevent them from reaching Lucknow. Still, over two lakh party workers have assembled here in support of the Jyotirmath Shankaracharya and the MGNREGA. The Narendra Modi government has not only renamed MGNREGA, but has also not paid the daily wage of workers under the scheme for the last 11 months,” state Congress president Ajay Rai said.
Rai was arrested along with several others and taken to Lucknow’s eco-garden. They were later released.
Barabanki MP Tanuj Punia, Amethi MP K.L. Sharma, Congress women’s wing’s national coordinator Urusa Rana and party’s state general secretary Suman Prajapati were put under house arrest.
The Magh Mela administration had on January 18 asked Avimukteshwaranand to step out of his palanquin and walk towards the Sangam without his followers to take a holy dip on Mauni Amavasya. The police had allegedly attacked his followers and pulled the sadhus by their dreadlocks. Avimukteshwaranand returned to his ashram in Varanasi after a weeklong dharna at the Sangam area without taking the holy bath.
The Modi government has rechristened the MGNREGA as Viksit Bharat — Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajiveeka Mission (Gramin): VB-G RAM G Bill, sparking an outcry from the Opposition.
“The attack on Swami Avimukteshwaranand was an attack on Sanatan Dharma because the Shankaracharya has been the symbol of Sanatan for centuries. The Modi government is also trying to erase the name of the father of the nation,” Congress leader Dwijendra Tripathi said.
“The police lathi-charged women and dragged them away. They were kept in the eco-garden, which is devoid of any civic facility, and released after five hours,” he said.