Opposition Samajwadi Party members were furious in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly on Thursday protesting against the demolization of the platform being built to install the statue of former state minister late Pandit Harishankar Tiwari in his native village Tada in Gorakpur on Wednesday.

Raising the issue , leader of the opposition Mata Prasad Pandey alleged that the incident is unfortunate and now the government was restricting to honour a dead leader.

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Other SP members too joined the LoP but speaker Satish Mahana pacified the members and assured them that he will personally look into the matter.
Late Harishankar Tiwari’s son and SP leader Vinay Shankar Tiwari has expressed displeasure over this action.

On the other hand, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav has also targeted the Yogi government. Akhilesh said that till now BJP’s bulldozer used to run on houses and shops, but now it has started running on the honor and respect of the deceased also.

According to the incident, August 5 is the 88th birth anniversary of Pandit Harishankar Tiwari. Regarding this, on the suggestion of area industrialist Prem Sagar Tiwari, village panchayat head Dayashankar Tiwari, Rahul Tiwari, Monu and others, it was decided to pay tribute to the former minister by installing a statue of him at personal expense next to the entrance of Tada village.

Village panchayat head Dayashankar Tiwari said, the Gram Panchayat had unanimously passed a resolution to install the statue at that place.

Meanwhile, on July 21, Dr. Raja Vashishtha Tripathi of Tanda village gave a letter to SDM Gola and expressed his opposition to the installation of the statue on public land. He had also sent a copy of the letter to the Chief Secretary, Commissioner, District Magistrate, SSP, CO Gola along with Inspector in-charge Barhalganj.

In view of the complaint, the villagers including Dayashankar Tiwari met the DM on July 29 and submitted a proposal to the Gram Panchayat and Land Management Committee and sought permission to install the statue. However the construction work continued.

Villagers say that due to political pressure, the Sub-Collector and Tehsildar along with Gola police force arrived with a bulldozer on Wednesday and demolished the platform.