On Monday, the second day of the winter session of the Uttar Pradesh Legislature, Samajwadi Party (SP) members protested at the main gate of the Vidhan Bhavan over various issues including the alleged illegal trade of codeine cough syrup and raised anti-government slogans.
On Monday at 10 am, opposition SP members reached the main gate of Vidhan Bhawan with placards written with anti-government slogans and staged a protest in front of the statue of Chaudhary Charan Singh.
SP’s Assembly and Legislative Council members, waving placards in their hands, demanded strict action against the accused involved in the alleged illegal trade of codeine cough syrup and also accused the government of saving some people.
SP members accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led government of violating the Constitution and reservation, suppressing the rights of matriarchs, ending reservation in jobs for students and youth and many other allegations.
Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, Mata Prasad Pandey, told reporters that “the need to hold this demonstration arose because the government is not taking the issues seriously.” He said, “This codeine issue is a very serious matter and there is a scam worth thousands of crores of rupees in it.” The government should have acted quickly but it did not. The government had all the resources but when the Samajwadi Party raised its voice on this, it started taking action but that too is not enough.
Many SP members were roaming around with posters of the codeine cough syrup scam on their backs.
SP members accused the government and the Election Commission of deleting names of voters during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) campaign of the voter list. SP member Chandraprakash Lodhi told journalists that only the names of voters were being deleted. The government is trying to protect its people on Codeine Cough Syrup and we will not allow the proceedings of the House to continue today in protest against it.
SP member Ram Khiladi Yadav said that in Uttar Pradesh, the mafia started business by forming 700 illegal companies regarding codeine cough syrup, but the government remains helpless in front of the mafia.
