Cong workers stage protests across UP over Priyanka Gandhi's detention

Congress workers Friday staged protests across Uttar Pradesh over police detaining party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, accusing the state government of trying to prevent the truth about the Sonbhadra clash from coming before the people.

The Congress general secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh East was detained earlier in the day and stopped from going to Sonbhadra, where 10 people were gunned down this week over a land dispute.

Gandhi was detained in Mirzapur district and taken to a guesthouse after she squatted on the road, insisting that she be allowed to proceed, UP Police officials said.

"Congress workers have come out on the roads now and will take the government to task for its wrong deeds. They feared that Priyanakaji going to Sonbhadra will bring out the truth before the people," Congress MLA Aradhana Misra said in Lucknow.

Party workers sat on a dharna at the GPO Park in the state capital and raised slogans against the BJP-led government for stopping Priyanka Gandhi from meeting the clash victims.

A report from Gorakhpur said large number of Congress workers protested Priyanka Gandhi's detention in Gorakhpur-Basti zone, including Maharajganj, Deoria, Kushinagar, Siddharthnagar, Santkabir Nagar and Basti districts.

In Gorakhpur, the protestors burnt an effigy of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and raised anti-government slogans.

"It is complete misuse of power and nothing else. India is a democratic country and it is not wrong if someone wants to meet the clash victims and their families. The government used power against innocent Adivasis when they refused to vacate their houses and also stopped Priyanka Gandhi from meeting them," former Congress Gorakhpur district general secretary, Ajay Kumar Singh, said.

Similar reports of partymen protesting against the police action have come from other districts in the state, Congress sources said.

Twenty-eight people were also injured in the clash between supporters of the village head and Gond tribals over a piece of land in Sonbhadra's Ghorawal area on Wednesday.

Section 144 of the CrPC, which prohibits assembly of more than four persons in an area, has been imposed in Sonbhadra district.