SP legislators stage protest to highlight ‘govt’s failures’

Lucknow: Staging a protest outside the UP assembly against the "failures of the BJP govt" on the first day of the budget session, Samajwadi Party MLAs and MLCs devised some novel methods to catch the attention of the people while raising issues.The legislators, led by party MLA from Lucknow Arman Khan, held placards with slogans attacking the UP govt for price rise, unemployment and anti-farmer policies.Sardhana MLA Atul Pradhan reached the assembly gates with shackles and handcuffs to remind the govt of how Indians were being deported from the US tied in chains onboard military aircrafts and the govt's failure to come to their rescue.MLA Ashutosh Sinha, who was seen carrying an urn supposedly containing "ashes of morality". "The BJP govt repeatedly talked about how AI-enabled CCTV cameras and drones were deployed to count devotees at Sangam through facial recognition technique. They counted crores of devotees every day and came up with the count of people taking the holy dip. But the govt failed to provide the death toll and names of those killed and those who went missing in the stampede," Ashutosh said."The urn that I am carrying contains the ashes of morality of the BJP govt. I will immerse these ashes outside the UP assembly," he said.