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SP chief Akhilesh Yadav detained outside Lucknow residence
Earlier in the day, Yadav, accompanied by party workers, broke through police barricades placed near his residence in Lucknow. As police resisted, the leader squatted in the middle of the road as SP workers raised slogans against the government. Yadav was later detained, triggering protests by supporters.
The Uttar Pradesh police detained Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Monday after he led a brief sit-in protest in Lucknow even as the administration sealed the road leading to his residence ahead of his rally against the new farm laws.
Earlier in the day, Yadav, accompanied by party workers, broke through police barricades placed near his residence in Lucknow. As police resisted, the leader squatted in the middle of the road as SP workers raised slogans against the government. Yadav was later detained, triggering protests by supporters.
The SP chief was scheduled to go to Kannauj to lead a farmers’ protest after the party gave a call for a statewide “kisan yatra’’ against the laws on Monday, but he was not allowed to leave his residence.
Joint commissioner of police, Lucknow, Naveen Arora said, “The police were deployed to prevent any law and order trouble. The Kannauj district magistrate had sent a notice to SP chief Akhilesh Yadav not to visit Kannauj as protests, demonstrations are prohibited in the district. The same message was conveyed to the Lucknow police following which we have acted.”
Soon after his detention, Akhilesh wrote a letter to Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla. “I am a Lok Sabha MP and national president of the Samajwadi Party... This undemocratic behaviour of the state government is not only an infringement of my rights as a citizen but also of special privileges as a Lok Sabha member. Kindly intervene, so that my right to my democratic duties is restored,” he wrote.
Lucknow police have registered a case under the Epidemic Act and few other sections against Akhilesh Yadav and 28 others over the party’s Kisan Yatra.
