Priyanka Gandhi Vadra still ‘detained’ in Chunar : UP Dy CM denies ‘arrest’ 

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Friday evening refused to return from Chunar until she is allowed to proceed to Sonebhadra to meet the families of the 10 Adivasis killed and 28 injured when a village headman and his henchmen opened fire on Wednesday.

Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma denied that the Congress general secretary had been arrested. She was prevented from proceeding to Sonebhadra, 80 Kilometres from Varanasi, because she was a NSG protectee and also because section 144 was still in force in Sonebhadra.

A defiant Priyanka Gandhi, however, told party workers that she was ready to go to Sonebhadra with just four people with her and nothing could stop her from meeting the families. She was detained in a guesthouse in Chunar by the UP Police while Congress workers offered dharna.

Congress meanwhile called upon state units to organise dharnas and demonstrations to protest against her illegal detention and protest.

While Priyanka Gandhi is the first major political leader to try and reach Sonebhadra after the massacre of adivasis, Bahujan Samaj Party in a press release claimed that the party had been helping the victims’ families on the ground. Samajwadi Party too claimed that it had sent a delegation of leaders to Sonebhadra but they too were detained.

In the Uttar Pradesh assembly, however, there was not much outrage that was seen on Thursday or Friday over the carnage. While chief minister Yogi Adityanath informed the House that the village headman and several of his henchmen had been arrested and an inquiry ordered, the opposition failed to make common cause and make it into an issue.

Political pundits on the other hand observed that the BJP Government was deliberately allowing the Congress leader to steal the limelight so that it can again ensure a four-cornered contest in the Assembly election. A Congress leader scoffed at such suggestions and said that Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had been raising issues of lawlessness in Uttar Pradesh regularly and it was natural for her to reach out to the families. Her detention was both unfortunate and illegal, he held.

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

"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 Lucknow 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.

Twitter reactions on her detention was mixed.