The workers of Azad Samaj Party (ASP) gathered in the state capital on Monday to hold a protest against the alleged atrocities on Dalits, Tribals, Muslims and Backwards. The call for protest was given by ASP chief and Nagina MP, Chandra Shekhar Azad, to send a memorandum to the president, Droupadi Murmu, through the governors of various states.
Heavy police force was deployed and barricades erected in and around the Hazratganj area, as ASP workers had proposed a march from Parivartan Chowk to Governor’s House to hand over the memorandum. Many workers were also detained by the police. Later, a memorandum was handed over to the district administration.
The state president of ASP, Sunil Kumar Chittor, claimed that he was briefly put under house arrest in the state capital as the police wanted to stop him from joining the protest.
“The police has been cracking the whip at our district chiefs in all 75 districts of the state for the last three days. Those who managed to escape and tried to reach the state capital were stopped at several toll booths. Barricading was put on all link roads of Lucknow to stop our party workers. Our main issue is the recent atrocities over Dalits, Tribals and Muslims under the BJP regime. Our party president’s car was also attacked in Mathura a few days back,” stated Chittor.
“Around 20,000 people were expected to turn up for the protest in Lucknow, but unfortunately this was for the first time in a democracy that police detained our party workers. Still, around 1,000 people reached Parivartan Chowk and gave a memorandum to the officials. Our party chief Chandra Shekhar Azad was stopped at Chandauli border yesterday when he was coming back from Bihar. Later, he was sent to Delhi by the police. Even I was detained by the police and cops were deployed at my place since yesterday,” he added.
{{/usCountry}}“Around 20,000 people were expected to turn up for the protest in Lucknow, but unfortunately this was for the first time in a democracy that police detained our party workers. Still, around 1,000 people reached Parivartan Chowk and gave a memorandum to the officials. Our party chief Chandra Shekhar Azad was stopped at Chandauli border yesterday when he was coming back from Bihar. Later, he was sent to Delhi by the police. Even I was detained by the police and cops were deployed at my place since yesterday,” he added.
{{/usCountry}}The Azad Samaj Party state president also said that such protests were held across the country in the state capitals to send a memorandum to the president.