UP Violence Will End Yogi Government: Congress's Deepender Singh Hooda

Deepender Singh Hooda was detained along with Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in Sitapur while on their way to Lakhimpur Kheri.

Senior Congress leader Deepender Singh Hooda on Monday said the deadly violence at Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur Kheri will spell doom for the BJP government in the state like the Bhatta Parsaul episode a decade ago.

"I was a part of the Bhatta Parsaul movement and had taken part in the foot-march. The then BSP government had targeted farmers, totally disregarding their self-respect. Today, the same situation is prevailing. After Bhatta Parsaul, there was a change of government in Uttar Pradesh and there will be a change of government in the state now," Mr Hooda, who was detained along with Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in Sitapur while on their way to Lakhimpur Kheri, told news agency PTI over the phone.

In 2011, two policemen and two farmers were killed in clashes following protests over the acquisition of land in Greater Noida's Bhatta Parsaul, a Jat-dominated village that had become the epicentre of agitation against land acquisition in the country.

Back then, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had visited Bhatta Parsaul disguised and riding pillion on a two-wheeler being driven by his senior party colleague Digvijaya Singh in solidarity with the farmers protesting against the land acquisition taking place under the then Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh. In the next elections, Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party came to power.