Platform built to install ex-minister's statue demolished SP raises issue in UP Assembly

Lucknow, Aug 1 (PTI) Samajwadi Party MLAs raised slogans in the well of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly on Thursday over the demolition of a platform built to install former Cabinet Minister Hari Shankar Tiwari’s statue in Gorakhpur.
     As soon as the House met, SP leader Kamal Akhtar raised the issue in the assembly.
     Leader of Opposition Mata Prasad Pandey said that the platform was constructed for installation of the statue after the village head wrote to the district magistrate and he was also given permission for the same.
     The SP members entered the well of the House and raised slogans.
     Speaker Satish Mahana said that as no notice was given on the issue he could not seek reply from the government.
     When the SP members insisted, the Speaker said that he would ask the government to look into the matter.
     Earlier, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav raised the matter through a post on X.
     He said, "Till now, BJP's bulldozer used to run on shops and houses, now it has started running on the honour and respect of those who are not more as well. Getting the proposed site of installation of the statue of late Harishankar Tiwari, former Cabinet Minister of UP and seven times MLA from Chillupar, demolished by the BJP government is a highly objectionable act."
     "The site should be immediately rebuilt so that the statue can be installed with respect on his birth anniversary day, August 5," he said.
     Tiwari was a founding member of the Loktantrik Congress party and was a cabinet minister from 1997 to 2007 in Kalyan Singh, Ram Prakash Gupta, Rajnath Singh, Mayawati and Mulayam Singh Yadav-led governments.
     He passed away on May 16 last year after prolonged illness.
     Tiwari was considered a political heavy weight and had established himself as a leader of Brahmins in the state.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)