Lucknow: Months after raising concerns about ‘irregularities’ in Anganwadi recruitment, Uttar Pradesh’s Minister of State, Pratibha Shukla, is once again in the spotlight, but this time for protesting against the state police. Her husband, former MP Anil Shukla Warsi, was also present at the dharna, and claimed that Brahmins are being unfairly targeted in the current government.
Pratibha Shukla staged a dharna on 24 and 25 July at Akbarpur police station, accusing that her close aides were specifically targeted by the police. She demanded that the local police inspector be removed. Police officers tried to persuade her to end the protest, but she refused to budge.
As per Shukla’s close aides, the issue began with a road being constructed using MLA funds in the Badlapur area (Akbarpur Nagar Panchayat) of Kanpur district. A local councillor named Shamshad objected to the location of the road and stopped the work. When Pratibha Shukla found out, she visited the spot of the argument between her supporters and the councillor. Later that evening, based on a complaint by the contractor, a case was filed against Councillor Shamshad for allegedly disrupting government work and demanding money.
Later, a cross FIR was filed by a Scheduled Caste resident of Badlapur—Baburam—against several people, including local BJP leader Shiva Pandey, who is close to Shukla. This upset Shukla further, and both husband and wife sat on dharna.
Anil Shukla, the minister’s husband and a former MP, further escalated the controversy by attacking his own party’s MP, Bhole Singh. In a viral video, Anil said that if the BJP hadn’t made his wife a minister, he would have contested the 2024 elections from Akbarpur and defeated Bhole Singh. He accused Bhole Singh’s men of controlling the police station and causing trouble.
In another video, Anil Shukla is seen talking to Deputy CM Brajesh Pathak and accusing the government of failing to protect Brahmins. The Deputy CM reportedly cut the call midway.
While speaking to the media on Friday, Anil Shukla said that Brahmins are being repeatedly targeted under the current government. He hinted that only one caste is dominating, indirectly referring to MP Bhole Singh, a Thakur, the same caste as Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
Before Shukla, many other BJP leaders, including MLA Prakash Dwivedi and Dev Mani Dwivedi also, alleged that Brahmins were being targeted in the state. As per a rough estimate, Thakurs make up around 6 percent of Uttar Pradesh’s population, while Brahmins constitute around 9 percent. Both communities are seen to have played a key role in bringing the BJP to power in the state for two consecutive terms since 2017.
Pratibha Shukla’s husband Anil Shukla is a former BSP MP. He joined the BJP in 2015 along with his wife. He has also been part of the Samajwadi Party earlier. In 2017, his wife Pratibha won the Akbarpur-Raniya assembly constituency on a BJP ticket. Later, in 2022, she was appointed Minister of State for Women Welfare, Child Development and Nutrition in the Yogi government.
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Shukla raised questions earlier too
In February, Pratibha Shukla had sparked another controversy when a letter written by her alleging corruption in the Anganwadi recruitment went viral. In it, she accused officials in her department of irregularities in the hiring process. She stated that during her district visits, she received frequent complaints about corruption. She specifically blamed District Programme Officers (DPOs) and their staff for manipulating recruitment procedures.
In her letter, she mentioned that during her visits to various districts, she had received numerous complaints about corruption in the hiring process. She noted that everything from accepting applications to shortlisting candidates was being done under the DPO’s supervision.
Shukla is one of several ministers in Yogi Adityanath’s second term who have openly raised concerns about their own government’s officials. Before her, leaders like Deputy CM Brajesh Pathak, Cabinet Minister Ashish Patel, Nand Kumar Nandi, Sanjay Nishad, Minister of State (Independent Charge) Dinesh Pratap Singh, and Minister of State Dinesh Khatik have also questioned bureaucratic functioning on different occasions.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
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