Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who was on her way to Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri district to visit the families of the victims of Sunday’s violence, has been arrested in Hargaon on Monday, according to the party’s youth wing national president Srinivas BV. “Finally what was expected from the BJP has happened. In the democratic country of ‘Mahatma Gandhi’, the worshipers of ‘Godse’ have arrested our leader @priyankagandhi Ji who fought heavy rains and the police force to meet the ‘Annadata’, from Hargaon. This is just the beginning of the fight!! Kisan Ekta Zindabad,” Srinivas tweet, roughly translated from Hindi, read.
Srinivas also shared a video along with the tweet and has called on people to reach the Sitapur police line where Priyanka Gandhi has been taken. The Congress general secretary has said she will meet the families of those killed on Sunday after violence during a protest in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri. The farmers were protesting three farm laws enacted by the central government last year
आखिरकार वही हुआ, जिसकी BJP से उम्मीद थी
‘महात्मा गांधी’ के लोकतांत्रिक देश में ‘गोडसे’ के उपासकों ने भारी बारिश और पुलिसबल से संघर्ष करते हुए अन्नदाताओं से मिलने जा रही हमारी नेता @priyankagandhi जी को हरगांव से गिरफ्तार किया..
ये लड़ाई का सिर्फ आरंभ है!! किसान एकता जिंदाबाद
Priyanka Gandhi reached the Lucknow airport on Sunday evening following the incident and was stopped by the police several times on her way to Lakhimpur Kheri. The party released several videos and in one of them, she is heard saying that she was stopped several times while she was on her way to Lakhimpur. “I’m not committing any crime by deciding to meet victim’s kin…Why are you stopping us? You should have a warrant…?” she is heard saying in one of the videos.
Meanwhile, Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait also reached Lakhimpur early on Monday. “We will first meet the farmers and villagers and discuss the situation with them. The future course of action will be done on the basis of the discussion with the villagers and farmers. Their decision will prevail,” Tikait told reporters at Banbirpur village, according to news agency PTI.
Tikait’s associates said the farm leader delayed and blamed it delay on multiple police checks. “En route to Lakhimpur, we were stopped at multiple places by the UP Police. Somehow we have managed to reach here at Banbirpur village and Tikait ji will now be meeting the farmers here,” BKU’s media in-charge Dharmendra Malik told PTI over the phone
The UP police tweeted early on Monday, saying the incident in Lakhimpur Kheri was “unfortunate” and that eight deaths have been reported till now as per the district administration. “ADG LO, ACS Agriculture, IG Range & Commissioner are on the spot & situation is under control. Adequate deployment has been done to prevent any untoward incident,” it added.
Mobile internet services have been snapped in parts of the violence-hit district, where prohibitory orders under section 144 of the CrPC has also been imposed.
