Yatra begins from Mainpuri: Jitin to meet murdered Brahmin victims’ kin

Prasada will also be meeting family members of Kamlesh Tiwari, a Hindu outfit leader who was killed in Lucknow recently.

During the course of the yatra, Prasada will visit Meerut to meet the family of a lawyer, Mukesh Sharma, who was killed in October, and Lakhimpur Kheri where a journalist named Ramesh Mishra was shot at on October 29. He will also visit Basti to meet the family of Aditya Sharan Tiwari who was murdered on October 9. He will also meet the families of Satya Narayan Shukla in Amethi, Kamlesh Tiwari in Lucknow, Aman Mishra in Kannauj, Jagdish Udainiya in Jhansi among others.

Though all the victims, whose families Prasada will meet belong to the Brahmin community, the former Union minister downplayed the “coincidence”, saying his yatra was not aimed at any particular community, but on the issue of “deteriorating” law and order situation in the state.

“There is complete jungle raj in the state. So many murders are taking place. Just recently, a state minister, Swati Singh, was threatening a circle officer for registering an FIR. It is our responsibility that we should wake up the government on these issues and make them see the plight of the people,” Prasada told The Indian Express.

Alleging that people were being killed in the state like insects, the Congress leader said that his visits would not end with these meetings, but it would continue by “pursuing all these cases to get the justice for the families”.

Prasada said that he has been invited by an organisation named ‘Brahmin Chetna Parishad’ on Friday in Lucknow where its members would share the “fears and problems” faced by the community before him.

Meanwhile, state Congress president Ajay Kumar Lallu termed Prasada’s yatra “a good initiative”. “It is human nature to express condolence and stand with the victims… the Congress stands with him as we would all try to become the voice of all these victims so that we can listen to their problems and can share their pain,” Lallu said.

While he did not comment on Brahmin-centric nature of the yatra, he added, “The Congress stands with victims irrespective of any community and would share the pain of all.”