UP Congress president detained for dharna over buses for migrants

The Congress leader was holding a dharna with partymen on Bharatpur- Agra highway demanding that buses stranded on the border should be allowed to move towards Noida and Ghaziabad to be provided to district administration there.

Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee president Ajay Kumar Lallu was detained on Tuesday for holding a dharna with partymen on the Bharatpur- Agra highway demanding that buses stranded on the border should be allowed to move towards Noida and Ghaziabad to be provided to district administration there.

UP Congress president Ajay Kumar Lallu being taken away by the police.

Four policemen, one holding him by his feet and three supporting him at the shoulders, were seen carrying him away to the police car. Lallu is then seen calmly climbing into the waiting car.

At this point, he tells his supporters, “Na jhuke hain na jhukenge (We will not bow)”.

SSP Agra Babloo Kumar has confirmed that the Congress leader has been detained. Along with Lallu, other party leaders Pradeep Mathur, Vivek Bansal were also detained.

The Congress and the Yogi government have been involved in a tussle over the buses that the party proposed to provide in order to send stranded migrant workers home.

The Congress has accused the BJP and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath of indulging in “cheap politics” by not allowing its buses to ferry migrants stranded at the borders.

Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala urged Adityanath to come to the aid of migrants and immediately grant permission to 1,000 buses made available by the Congress in this regard and not “create hurdles instead”.

“Kindly put a stop on cheap politics and not be insensitive and inhumane towards the plight of migrants. Kindly allow buses to ply migrants home and help them instead of embroiling them in cheap and petty politics,” Surjewala told a press conference through video conferencing.

Earlier today, the Uttar Pradesh government said the list of 1,000 buses offered by the Congress to ferry migrant workers contained registration numbers of two-wheelers and cars, fuelling a war of words between the two sides.

The Congress, however, challenged the UP government to conduct a “physical verification” of the buses it has brought to the state’s border to take UP’s stranded workers home.

Even while accusing the Congress of playing politics over the plight of workers heading home after the coronavirus lockdown, the UP government on Monday formally accepted the offer.

It asked the Congress to submit a list of the buses, and its drivers and conductors.