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Journalism of Courage
The Congress released its fifth list of candidates for the Assembly elections. The party sprung a surprise by fielding the mother-in-law of gangster Vikas Dubey’s nephew and associate Amar Dubey from Kalyanpur in Kanpur district.
Amar was killed in a police shootout on July 8, 2020, almost a week after eight policemen were gunned down in an ambush in Kanpur’s Bikru village when they were on their way to arrest Vikas. On July 10, Vikas was shot dead after he allegedly tried to flee while being brought back to the state from Madhya Pradesh. Apart from Amar, the police also gunned down several other associates of Vikas in the days following the ambush.
Amar’s mother-in-law Gayatri Devi had recently met Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. Her daughter and Amar’s wife Khushi was a newlywed at the time of the Bikru attack, and has been in jail since being arrested in its aftermath. For a long time, Gayatri has been making a plea for Khushi’s release, saying she married Amar only three days before the ambush and had no links to the criminal activities of her husband and Vikas Dubey.
The brother of a police officer killed in Bikru criticised the Congress’ move. Anoop Kumar Singh’s brother Anuj said his family had not yet recovered from the shock of how political parties were giving patronage to Amar Dubey’s family.
Earlier, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) national general secretary Satish Chandra Mishra had cited Khushi’s case to allege that Brahmins in the state were facing atrocities under BJP rule The Mayawati-led party even offered Gayatri legal assistance to fight her daughter’s case.
Meanwhile, the Congress has fielded famous poet Munawwar Rana’s daughter Urusha from Purwa in Unnao district. Urusha was one of the vocal opponents of the amended citizenship law over two years ago. She joined the party thereafter, and was appointed an office-bearer of the state Mahila Congress.
The Congress also announced its candidates in Lucknow, fielding Shadhana Siddqiue from Lucknow West, Ajay Srivastava from Lucknow North, and Pankaj Tiwari from Lucknow East. Vinay Vikram Singh has been given the ticket from Lambhua in Sultanpur district.
