Rahul, Priyanka allowed to visit Lakhimpur after day of drama
Rahul, who was first stopped at Lucknow airport from leaving, leads Cong delegation to meet victims’ families
LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh government on Wednesday granted permission to all political parties to visit Lakhimpur Kheri, where eight people died as violence erupted during a farmers’ protest three days back, with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi leading a delegation of party members to meet the families of the victims after being stopped at the Lucknow airport.
“Permission has been given to political parties to visit Lakhimpur. Only five people will be allowed,” additional chief secretary (ACS), home, Awanish Kumar Awasthi said in Lucknow.
Earlier in the day, the state government had denied permission to Rahul Gandhi for his visit to the violence-hit district, and an official spokesperson had said that no one would be allowed to go there to vitiate the atmosphere.
Gandhi had reached the Chaudhari Charan Singh airport in Lucknow on Wednesday afternoon from Delhi along with Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi, Chhattisgarh CM Baghel and Congress general secretaries KC Venugopal and Randeep Surjewala.
Television footage from the airport showed Rahul Gandhi was stopped from leaving the airport but later officials told him to take the police vehicle if he were to head to Lakhimpur, which he did not agree to and sat on a protest.
“We want to go in our own vehicles, but they want that we should go in their vehicle. I want to know why are you not allowing me to go? First, I was told that I can go in my own vehicle, now you are saying that you will go in a police vehicle. They are doing some mischief,” Gandhi told reporters.
Talking to the press at the airport, Gandhi said he or Pri
yanka Gandhi Vadra being sent to jail was irrelevant as the main question was “people being crushed by criminals”, referring to the Lakhimpur Kheri episode. “Those who should have been in jail are not being put in jail. We are being stopped from meeting the aggrieved families of the farmers,” he said.He also hit out the UP government after he was not allowed to exit the Chaudhari Charan Singh airport, where a group of CRPF personnel were seen preventing his movement out of the airport, despite permission being granted to visit Lakhimpur Kheri. “See this, is the permission! This is the permission of the UP government,” Gandhi said, gesturing towards the security personnel who had formed a human-chain to prevent his movement.
“I want to ask them, that I am a citizen of the country and have come to UP and want to go (to Lakhimpur Kheri). Now, why am I not allowed to go,” he questioned of the government.
“Definitely, there is some mischief,” he said. Unable to move out of the airport, Gandhi along with Channi, Baghel and Deepender Singh Hooda, staged a sit-in inside the airport and said they would not end their “dharna” until they are allowed to go to Lakhimpur.
After he left the airport, it took Gandhi a couple of hours to reach the Provincial Armed Constabulary guest house in Sitapur, around 88 km from Lucknow, where his sister and Cingress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi was kept in detention since Monday morning. She was on her way to meet the families of farmers killed in Sunday’s violence in Lakhimpur Kheri when she was stopped.
After picking up Priyanka Gandhi, the Congress delegation left for Lakhimpur Kheri in the evening from the PAC guest house.Sitapur sub-divisional magistrate (Sadar) Pyarelal Maurya said that Priyanka Gandhi has been released from detention. Officials aware of the development said the Congress delegation may first stop at Nighashan in Lakhimpur district, the native place of journalist Raman Kashyap who also died in Sunday’s violence. Nighashan is around 100 km from Sitapur.
In a tweet, Surjewala announced that the Punjab and Chhattisgarh governments will provide ₹1 crore assistance to the families of each farmer and journalist killed in the Sunday violence.
Meanwhile, an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) delegation of Sanjay Singh, Raghav Chadha, Baljinder Kaur, Kultar Singh, Amarjit Sandhwa and Sabhajit Singh met the family of deceased farmer Nachhatar Singh, who lost his life in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence.
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal spoke to Singh’s family over phone and assured them of the party’s support. “We are saddened by the incident. The incident shows the state of lawlessness in UP. We are with you and will help you in fighting the case against the accused persons,” Kejriwal said.
Singh (50) was one of the four farmers who lost their lives when two SUVs mowed down a group of protesting farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri on Sunday. The protesting farmers claim that a car from the convoy belonging to Union minister of state for home Ajay Mishra Teni’s son, Ashish, ran over the protesters in Tikonia area.
The AAP claimed that its leaders were arrested on Tuesday on their way to Lakhimpur Kheri to meet the families of the deceased. “Sanjay Singh was in custody in Biswan for 43
hours,” the party claimed, adding that party workers carried out demonstrations in Biswan demanding justice for the farmers killed in Lakhimpur Kheri. The AAP delegation was released from detention on Wednesday following which the leaders met with the family of the deceased, becoming one of the first political delegations to do so.