On Thursday, the Indian National Congress released its first list of 125 candidates for the Uttar Pradesh Election 2022, which included Sadar Jafar who has been nominated from the Lucknow Central constituency. Activist and Congress spokesperson Sadaf Jafar is the one who was arrested along with 150 others accused in the anti-CAA protests in Lucknow.
Jafar is also a media panellist of the UP Congress and has been active at various protest demonstrations. She keeps raising issues against the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh. This is after Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had promised 40 per cent stake for women in ticket distribution for the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.
Jafar thanked Priyanka Gandhi for recognizing her struggle and giving her this responsibility. “This is a big challenge. ‘Ladki hu, lad sakti hu’, slogan is for all those women who have struggled. I will fight against unemployment, inflation and also atrocities faced by women. Only then will I be able to make justice to the ‘Ladki hu, Lad Sakti hu’ campaign”, said Sadaf Jafar while talking to media.
‘She continued to fight’, Priyanka Gandhi praises Sadaf Jafar
Priyanka Gandhi while appealing for more women in politics, a few days ago had said, “No one is here to protect you. Only those who talk about protecting you are protected, but not you.” Today while releasing the candidate list, she revealed that out of 125 people on the list, 50 are women and this is a historic decision. “We have selected people who we believe will be helpful in re-defining politics in the state”, she added.
Praising Jafar, Gandhi said that that she has struggled a lot and this was her chance. “During the Anti-CAA NRC protests, the police had unnecessarily arrested her. Both her children were alone at home. She was brutally beaten. Her posters were put in the city. But she continued to fight”, the Congress General Secretary added.
Priyanka had demanded Jafar’s release from Anti-CAA protest case-
It is worth noting that Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had supported Sadaf Jafar in the Anti-CAA protests and demanded her release from the jail. She had also launched attacks on the ruling BJP party and said that BJP had shown its ideology by arresting ‘innocents’. “BJP has shown its real ideology by arresting innocents and those taking forward Ambedkar’s ideology. The police failed to provide any evidence in the court. Lies can never win”, she had tweeted on Jafar’s release.
Jafar was arrested on December 19 along with 150 others when the protests against the CAA in Lucknow turned violent. The Uttar Pradesh police had charged her with serious offences under the Indian Penal Code, including inciting violence and damaging public property.
Authorities in Lucknow had put up roadside banners with photographs of people including Sadaf Jafar and asked them to pay compensation for damage to public property during anti-CAA protests. Jafar had termed the move unethical and vowed to take legal recourse. “How can we be publicly humiliated for something that has not yet been proved in court, she had said.