Sonbhadra massacre: On July 19, two days after 10 Gond tribals were gunned down by armed men led by a former village pradhan, Priyanka Gandhi was stopped by authorities in Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh, from proceeding to the adjoining district. She had promised the families that she would return to visit them.
Sonbhadra: Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday drove down to the Sonbhadra village where 10 tribals were shot dead in a land dispute, nearly a month after the Uttar Pradesh (UP) administration prevented her from visiting the massacre site by detaining her in Mirzapur.
Hitting the road soon after her arrival in Varanasi around 10 am, the Congress general secretary in-charge of eastern UP tweeted, "Today, I am going to Sonbhadra to meet the brothers-sisters and children of Umbha village, to enquire about their well-being and to be part of their struggle."
"I had promised the members of affected families of Umbha village, who had come to meet me at Chunar Fort, that I will visit them."
On July 19, two days after 10 Gond tribals were gunned down by armed men led by a former village pradhan, Priyanka Gandhi was stopped by authorities in Mirzapur from proceeding to the adjoining district where section 144 of the CrPC was imposed then due to tension in the village, triggering a standoff between her and the government.
She spent the night under detention at the Chunar Fort on July 19. The members of the tribal community had met Priyanka Gandhi the next day.
Before being detained, she had met the families of those injured at Varanasi hospital. Opposition parties had dubbed her detention as "undemocratic and unconstitutional".
On Tuesday (August 13), Congress leaders received her at the Varanasi airport and gave her a warm welcome. They said she would talk to the villagers and get a first-hand account of the steps taken by the government for their security since the shootout on July 17.
Congress leader had promised monetary help to the affected families of Umbha and the money was handed over to them by a delegation of party leaders.
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