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Students protest U.P. ban on union elections

LUCKNOW: With college students’ protest against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati’s decision to ban union elections spilling onto the streets, the Samajwadi Party on Saturday announced a State-wide dharna for Monday.

The Congress too expressed its intention to oppose the ban, described as autocratic by the party leaders.

There was no let-up in the protest on the second day on Saturday, with irate students resorting to violence in Varanasi, Azamgarh, Gorakhpur and Meerut.

In Lucknow, university students launched a support-building exercise with fellow students, but did not come out of the campus. A heavy police force was deployed at Lucknow University and the degree colleges to prevent violence.

Security was beefed up elsewhere in the State soon after the BSP government’s decision to ban union elections was announced on Friday.

Reports reaching the State police headquarters said that a bandh was observed by students in Gorakhpur.

Police lathicharged those who tried to forcibly close shops.

The protesters also tried to burn an effigy of the Chief Minister but were chased away.

Students of a college in Azamgarh damaged public property. Police had to use mild force to chase them away.

The most vociferous protest was reported from Varanasi, where students of the Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapeeth, the Harish Chandra Degree College, the U.P. College and the Sanskrit University fought a hide-and-seek battle with the police till late on Friday evening. The police resorted to lathicharge.

The irate students burnt the Chief Minister’s effigy and again resorted to violence on Saturday.

The Samajwadi Chhatra Sabha (students’ wing of the Samjawadi Party) threw its weight behind the protesting students, saying that it opposed the “dictatorial “ move of the government.

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