Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav was on Tuesday stopped by authorities at Lucknow airport from taking flight to to Prayagraj in the name of law & order, triggering protests by party workers in Prayagraj, Jaunpur, Jhansi, Kannauj, Balrampur, Jalaun, Azamgarh and Gorakhpur, where SP supporters smashed windscreens of vehicles and clashed with the police.
Akhilesh hit back at UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath over the latter’s comments that his Prayagraj visit could have triggered violence. He alleged, “I was stopped from boarding a flight to Prayagraj to attend a students’ union programme. I haven’t been given a reason why but it occurred to the powers-that-be that I would create a law and order problem. They (BJP) are using this as a cover to hide their nervousness.”
“If there was a genuine problem, the police there would have objected or asked for a change in my schedule,” said Akhilesh.
Defending the decision to prevent Akhilesh from proceeding to Prayagraj, Yogi questioned as to why the SP chief was so adamant on going to Prayagraj when the district administration was apprehensive that his presence could create law and order problems. “Was he going to create violence there?” Yogi questioned.
“The SP should refrain from its anarchist activities. The Allahabad University administration had given in writing that Akhilesh’s visit might create law and order problem due to the dispute between student outfits. Hence the Government took this step," he clarified.
Interestingly, the Allahabad University had already informed the SP chief that no politicians were allowed in any of their programmes. On Monday, registrar of Allahabad University had written to Yadav’s personal secretary in this regard.
Rajya Sabha proceedings were disrupted on Tuesday following protests by the SP and other Opposition parties over alleged stopping of Akhilesh at Lucknow airport. In UP, both Houses were adjourned for the day after Opposition members in Assembly and Council protested against the Government on the issue.
Meanwhile, BSP chief Mayawati termed the incident as extremely condemnable. She sought to know whether the ruling BJP was afraid of the SP-BSP alliance as a result of which it was “resorting to anti-democratic methods”.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said it happened because of “arrogant attitude of so-called BJP leaders”.