Congress protests against deaths in Gorakhpur tragedy

Lucknow, Aug 16 : The Uttar Pradesh unit of the Congress on Wednesday held a protest here against the deaths of children at Baba Raghav Das (BRD) Medical College in Gorakhpur.

Led by Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee chief Raj Babbar, the demonstration was held at the GPO park in the city. He was joined by senior leaders including Rajya Sabha member Pramod Tiwari.

Babbar, while addressing the gathering said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government needed "buddhi shuddhi" as it had lost the plot and was not working in the interests of the people.

He accused the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh of being responsible for the deaths of over 60 children at the BRD Medical college and said that the demonstration was being held to expose the lies being spread by the state government.

The Congress on Tuesday described Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Independence Day speech as "most disappointing" and slammed him for being "insensitive" towards the Gorakhpur tragedy.

In his first Independence Day speech on Tuesday after assuming office, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath sought to blame the deaths of over 60 children on encephalitis.

In an obvious reference to the tragedy, widely blamed on lack of oxygen at the state-run hospital, Adityanath said that Uttar Pradesh was a big state and deaths were taking place due to diseases like encephalitis.

Such vector-borne diseases, he said, could be tackled with the Swacch Bharat mission "in which every citizen should participate".