A controversy erupted in Uttar Pradesh after Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav was on Tuesday temporarily detained at the Lucknow airport and not allowed to fly to Allahabad where he was scheduled to attend a students union function in the University of Allahabad.
Mr. Yadav said the authorities failed to provide a proper reason for preventing him from boarding the plane. By stopping him from "speaking, from asking questions that are on everyone's lips, to be prevented from enagaging with the youth is just another clear sign of how scared the government is," he said in a statement.
The district administration of Allahabad said the university administration had not permitted political programmes to be held on the campus as they anticipated a breach of peace on the premises. There is already a huge congregation in the city due to the Kumbh Mela, the administration said.
Mr. Yadav dismissed the State's justification, saying the statement given by the Chief Minister to this effect was only a "cover to hide their nervousness because our youth have had enough."
"If there was a genuine problem, the police there would have objected, or asked for a change in my schedule. I understand the need to ensure the safety of people and property and would never do something to endanger either knowingly," he said.
Mayawati terms it anti-democratic
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati, now allied to the SP, said the incident was condemnable, anti-democratic and an example of total dictatorship of the BJP government.
A photo tweeted by Akhilesh Yadav at the Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport
"Is the BJP government at the Centre and in Uttar Pradesh so afraid of the BSP-SP alliance that it is resorting to anti-democratic methods in order to curb our political activities. This is very unfortunate and this undemocratic step will be fought at all levels," she tweeted.
Without naming anybody, Mr. Yadav said, "let me explain the remote control politics of two and-a-half men."
He further said, "They have lost Uttar Pradesh, but more than an election, they have lost the faith that the youth of this country reposed in them. They have betrayed the aspirations and hopes of crores of young people in their blind pursuit of creating a monochrome India. Their attack on institutions by filling them with people whose loyalties lie with an organisation that harbours people who celebrate the Mahatma’s murderer, is an attack on our democracy."
SP workers smash windscreens of vehicles
SP workers protested Mr. Yadav's temporary detainment by smashing windscreens of vehicles and clashed with the police.
Protests broke out in Allahabad, Jaunpur, Jhansi, Kannauj, Balrampur, Jalaun and Gorakhpur, among other places in the State.
SP leaders said party MP Dharmendra Yadav was injured in Allahabad in a lathi charge by the police.
The issue rocked both the Houses of the State legislature.
(With inputs from PTI )
