Two leaders of Aam Aadmi Party’s UP unit were arrested for protesting against Jawaharlal Nehru university (JNU) violence from GPO in Hazratganj on Monday.
After the arrest of Vanshraj Dubey (AAP students’ wing state chief) and Tushar Srivastava (AAP students wing state secretary), scores of leaders and workers of the party thronged into the Hazratganj police station and demanded their release.
Later, AAP state spokesman Mahendra Singh said that Chief Minister Adityanath Yogi was gagging all voices of dissent.
He said that the party leaders and workers were protesting in a peaceful way at GPO but the police and district administration stopped them, citing prohibitory orders in the area.
“Our leaders (Dubey and Srivastava) opposed this and burnt the effigy of Union Home Minister Amit Shah and they were arrested by the police,” he said.
Singh said that the arrest of AAP leaders was unconstitutional as everyone had the right to express their opinion through protest or other means in a peaceful way.
“The UP government got our leaders arrested in a wrong way and we will intensify the agitation,” he said.
Earlier, AAP leader Engineer Kazi Imran Latif said that Bharatiya Janata Party workers assisted by the police were attacking those protesting peacefully to paint those protesting against Citizenship (Amendment) Act as villains.
Meanwhile, AAP leader Neelam Yadav said that the BJP had failed on all fronts and was taking divisive measures to divert public attention so that no one questioned their failures.