STATE TIMES NEWS
LUCKNOW: Police took Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav into custody on Monday after party workers led by him broke through a security cordon to sit on a dharna in the heart of the city to oppose the new farm bills.
Yadav was detained for violating section 144 of the CrPC which prevents assembly of five or more people at one spot.
With UP police laying a virtual siege to the area around the Samajwadi Party headquarters here, a defiant Yadav sat on a dharna on the road for some time joined by several party leaders, before he was detained by the UP police and bundled into a police van to remove him from the spot.
“If the new farm laws are intended to help the farmers, then why are they on the war path? Why is the government so adamant? If farmers don’t want the new laws, the government should take these back,” he told reporters at the protest site.
TV footage showed police using ‘laathis’ to push back SP workers.
While being whisked away to Eco Garden in the state capital by the police, Yadav said, “This is a dictatorial approach of the BJP. It has blatantly violated the Constitution. There is no coronavirus for the BJP, it is only for the opposition. The BJP can hold meetings and election campaigns anywhere, and for it there will be no coronavirus threat. The government wants to kill democracy on the pretext of coronavirus,” he said.
The government is insulting every SP worker, he said, adding that the non-confidence towards the government is increasing and it cannot be saved.
The SP chief was scheduled to go to Kannauj to lead farmers protest there after the party gave a call for a statewide ”kisan yatra” against the farm laws on Monday, but he was not allowed to leave his residence and proceed further.
Yadav said the government should bring laws which can ensure doubling of farmers income, “but the government’s intention is not clear”.
Soon after his detention, the SP MP wrote to the Lok Sabha Speaker complaining that he was being stopped from going to the programme (in Kannauj) “at the behest of the UP government” .
“I am a Lok Sabha MP and national president of the Samajwadi Party. Along with this, I have discharged the constitutional responsibility of an ex-chief minister. To extend support to farmers, my programme was to be held in Kannauj on December 7, and it was declared earlier,” he said.
“On the directions of the Uttar Pradesh government, I was stopped from going to the programme. A heavy police force was deployed at my residence on the Vikramaditya Marg. The police took my vehicles in its custody. This undemocratic behaviour is a violation of my rights. This amounts to breach of privileges of an MP,” Yadav said.