Lakhimpur Kheri incident: Priyanka Gandhi illegally detained, says Cong

The Congress on Monday lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led Union government over the detention of Priyanka Gandhi, who was on her way to Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri.

As many as eight people were killed in Lakhimpur Kheri on Sunday after violence erupted during a farmers’ protest ahead of a visit by Uttar Pradesh deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya. The deceased included four farmers and four occupants of the vehicles that allegedly ran over the farmers.

Priyanka Gandhi, along with other leaders of the Congress, including Deepender Hooda, reached the Lakhimpur border on Monday morning but were not allowed to meet the families of the deceased farmers.

Demanding an immediate release of Gandhi, the Congress claimed that she was illegally detained by the Uttar Pradesh police. Addressing reporters on Monday, party leader Rajiv Shukla said, “We demand the immediate release of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra who has been illegally detained. We also demand action against the policemen who misbehaved with her. ”

Gandhi alleged the treatment meted out to her by the police was equivalent to kidnapping.

Following her detention, she went on a hunger strike. In a 42-second video tweeted by Congress, Gandhi was seen sweeping the floor of the room where she was detained. The party described the video by saying that Priyanka’s hunger strike is for the rights of the farmers and the protection of constitutional rights. “The Bharatiya Janata Party-led government cannot crush our democratic and constitutional rights. The fight for rights will continue following the path of Mahatma Gandhi,” Congress further wrote on the microblogging site.

Several senior leaders of the Congress including the likes of Mallikarjun Kharge, Salman Khurshid and Pramod Tiwari slammed Priyanka Gandhi’s detention by the Uttar Pradesh Police. Mallikarjun Kharge said the Congress general secretary was detained without any warrant.

“For three times, we tried reaching Sitapur to help Priyanka Gandhi in our capacity as advocates. We were stopped, this is a gross injustice,” Salman Khurshid and Pramod Tiwari said in a joint video statement.