Lakhimpur Kheri: Priyanka Gandhi, Akhilesh Yadav Detained

Mr. Yadav was taken into ‘preventive custody’ from outside his residence in Lucknow where he staged a sit-in, when he was prevented from visiting Lakhimpur Kheri district, where eight including four farmers were killed on Sunday.

On Sunday, four farmers were among eight persons killed after a convoy of SUVs, including one allegedly owned by Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra, hit a group of protesters, causing an altercation.

Earlier, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was detained in Sitapur as she attempted to meet the families of the farmers on Monday. She was also seen getting into a verbal altercation with the police personnel whom she accused of being physically abrasive and resorting to ‘pushing and shoving us and other women.’

Ms. Gandhi said of the incident, “Today’s incident shows that this government is using politics to mow down farmers. This is the farmers’ country, not BJP’s… I’m not committing any crime by deciding to meet the victims’ kin…Why are you stopping us? You should have a warrant.”

Farm leaders are planning to hold protests in all districts on Monday to demand punishment for the guilty. They also seek the “arrest of the Minister and his son” who, they said, was driving one of the SUVs. They called for a probe by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court