Priyanka Gandhi slams arrest of Uttar Pradesh minority cell chief

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi on Tuesday slammed the Uttar Pradesh government over the arrest of party's minority cell chairman Shahnawaz Alam, saying the police action is undemocratic and repressive.

"Congress leaders and activists are committed to raise their voice on public issues. The BJP government can use the Police as an instrument to suppress the voices of other parties, but not our party (Congress). Look, how the UP Police arrested the Chairman of our Minority cell in the darkness of the night," Priyanka Gandhi said in a series of tweets in Hindi.

"First, our state president (Ajay Kumar Lallu) was kept in jail for four weeks on fake charges. Now this police action is repressive and undemocratic. Congress workers are not afraid of police and fake cases," she said in another tweet.

According to UP Police, Alam was arrested by the Lucknow police, late on Monday night, for his alleged involvement in the anti-CAA violence which took place in December last year.

A CCTV video circulated by UP Congress leaders shows cops taking away Alam from outside an apartment, close to the chief minister's residence, in a police vehicle. UP Police statement said that Alam was arrested for his involvement in the anti-CAA protest which took place on December 19, 2019 in Lucknow. He has been arrested after the police gathered sufficient evidence against him.

Priyanka Gandhi has been critical of the state government for the past few months.

She had locked horns with the state government over providing 1,000 buses for transporting the stranded migrant workers in the state in mid May. UP Congress chief Ajay Kumar Lallu was arrested in the same case.