We will honour the SSP with Yash Bharati, says Akhilesh sarcastically
LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday flayed the UP police, particularly Lucknow’s superintendent of police (SSP), over the arrest of two farmers who had allegedly thrown rotten potatoes on Vidhan Sabha Marg, in front of the chief minister’s residence (Kalidas Marg) and outside the Governor’s House in the intervening night of January 5-6.
“I congratulate the police for its commendable job of arresting the distressed potato farmers and we will honour the SSP (Deepak Kumar) with Yash Bharati award when SP comes back to power in the state,” said Yadav on a sarcastic note. Yash Bharati has been the flagship state awards in Samajwadi Party regimes. Akhilesh said the SP will hold a statewide demonstration in support of the farmers on January 27.
“We will tell the farmers that they should dump a sack-full of potatoes each at the district magistrate’s office in their respective districts and also handover a stray cattle each to the DM,” he said. The two arrested farmers are from Kannauj and associated with Samajwadi Party, according to the police. Yadav did not
AKHILESH SAID THE SAMAJWADI PARTY WILL HOLD A STATEWIDE DEMONSTRATION IN SUPPORT OF THE FARMERS ON JANUARY 27.
disown them.
“A murder took place right next to the SSP’s house and law and order has gone from bad to worse, but the police are successfully arresting distressed potato farmers. What was wrong if the potato farmers did the protest and that they are associated with SP. Instead of improving law and order and controlling crime, the police are chasing farmers and arresting them,” said Yadav while addressing a meeting of the party’s students’ wings office-bearers in Lucknow on Saturday.
The murder that Akhilesh referred to was gunning the down of the son of a former BJP legislator last month.
“Farmers are distressed as they are unable to sell their produce. Lucknow SSP, it seems, doesn’t know that potatoes are rotting both in the cold storages and fields. And farmers have no option than to throw them away,” he said.