Left leaders join protest at Jantar Mantar against Hathras incident, demand sacking of UP CM

Wearing masks and raising slogans against the UP administration, they demanded justice for the 19-year-old victim and asked Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to resign. Karat said the lawlessness in Uttar Pradesh is "a caste code in operation, not the Constitution of India".

Left leaders gathered at the Jantar Mantar here on Friday to take part in protests demanding justice for a 19-year-old Dalit woman of Uttar Pradesh's Hathras who died after being allegedly gang-raped and assaulted. CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, politburo member Brinda Karat and CPI general secretary D Raja were among the leaders present at the site. They questioned the silence of the central government over the issue.

"The silence of the central government and the top leadership of the BJP on such a heinous crime and the UP government's response thereafter speaks volumes about the authoritarian and anti-democratic 'chehra', 'chaal', 'charitra', and 'chintan' of the ruling party," Yechury said. "The Uttar Pradesh government has no right to stay in power. Our demand is that justice should be served," he said.

A massive protest erupted in the city on Friday evening as a number of civil society activists, students, women and political leaders gathered at the site against the Hathras incident and the UP government's response to it. Wearing masks and raising slogans against the UP administration, they demanded justice for the 19-year-old victim and asked Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to resign.

Karat said the lawlessness in Uttar Pradesh is "a caste code in operation, not the Constitution of India". "We fought for the primacy of rape victim's statement in law, but now, they have brought a false report to save the criminals, saying there was no rape. I want to ask Modiji. Is this your culture? Your UP government has put the family under house arrest. You are punishing them and not the government responsible for her death," she said.

"Is it your culture not to allow people to console the grieving family? Shame on you Modiji. Your government denied her proper medical attention, your government did not allow her family to give her a dignified funeral, and now, you are denying them solace. The UP chief minister should be sacked," Karat added. CPI general secretary Raja too questioned why the Centre was not commenting on the matter.

"People are angry with what happened in Hathras. We are demanding resignation of the UP CM and accountability from the UP Police. Ever since the BJP has come to power, crimes against Dalits are increasing, and the UP government has no sensitivity towards these issues," he said. "I urge the President of India who belongs to the state and knows more than anyone else about the horrible conditions of Dalits there to intervene. I quote Ambedkar here: 'Caste is a monster, wherever you go, the monster crosses your way. Caste is anti-national, and as long as it exists, India cannot be called a nation in social and psychological sense.' We have to come together and fight against the brahminical patriarchy," Raja said.

The CPI leader claimed that the Modi government did not want to condemn what happened in Uttar Pradesh because "for them, Dalit lives do not matter". The protest was to be held at India Gate initially but had to shifted to Jantar Mantar owing to the prohibitory orders in place in the Rajpath area.

Most of the protesters said they were outraged over the way UP police cremated the body of the victim, who died in Delhi's Safdarjung Hospital, a fortnight after she was allegedly raped by four upper caste men. The woman's family has alleged that the police forced them to conduct the last rites in the dead of the night. But local police officers have said the cremation was carried out "as per the wishes of the family".