Priyanka Gandhi to visit Prayagraj to support boatman who accompanied her at Sangam

Congress party's Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will visit Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh on Sunday (February 21) to support boatmen who were allegedly harassed by local police.

Priyanka, general secretary in-charge of Congress in Uttar Pradesh, recently took a holy dip at the Sangam, a confluence of the Ganga, Yamuna and mythical Sarswati river, on Mauni Amavasya where she had performed puja after which she travelled in Sujit Nishad`s boat.

She had later posted a video where she was seen assisting Nishad in rowing the boat.

Sujit had informed Priyanka about issues that boatmen belonging to the Nishad community were facing, including brutality against them by police whom he alleged had destroyed their boats. The boatman requested her assistance in raising their voices against the oppression to which she agreed, ANI quoted party



sources saying.

According to the program released by the party, Priyanka is scheduled to reach Prayagraj at 11 AM and will be visiting Banswaar village in the trans-Yamuna area of the district to meet members of the fisherman community.

Sujit said that several boats belonging to the Nishad community, an OBC (other backward class) caste, were damaged by police and administrative officials.

The Uttar Pradesh government banned the use of boats in sand mining across the state on 24 June 2019. Suddenly millions from the Nishad community became unemployed.

Many of them depend on rivers for their livelihood in Uttar Pradesh. In 2013, the NGT prohibited the extraction of sand from rivers using machines, but mining companies continue to extract it with Pokeland machines and the government levies tax.