Farmers Movement Archive

Punjab CM’s motorcade stopped from entering UP, Pilot turned back

MEERUT: The motorcade of Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi was stopped from entering Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday by several contingents of Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) and police personnel deployed at the Gauripur checkpost on the UP-Haryana border on the Eastern Peripheral Expressway. A senior police officer on condition of anonymity told TOI that the convoy was “requested” not to enter UP. “The fleet of cars with the Punjab CM likely wanted to use the expressway to reach Delhi Airport, but we asked them to turn back,” he said. The convoy had to use another route to reach Delhi airport where several senior Congress leaders along with Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel, Punjab CM and Rahul Gandhi boarded a flight to Lucknow. UP police remained on high alert on Wednesday and every vehicle entering the state underwent checking. Congress leader Sachin Pilot from Rajasthan was also stopped in Pilakhwa (Hapur), according to IG Meerut range Praveen Tripathi. Pilot later arrived in Delhi and took the road to reach Sitapur where Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was under detention at the PAC compound. “We are being stopped repeatedly on the highway. This is not the democratic way. Even detention of Priyanka ji for three days in Sitapur was unconstitutional. We are going to Sitapur and then to Lakhimpur Kheri to wipe off the tears of the bereaved families and doing so in a peaceful manner. What is so wrong about it? The government will have to pay for this kind of attitude,” said Pilot. At a massive gathering in Muzaffarnagar, Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Jayant Chaudhary, echoed Pilot's sentiments. “Leaders of the opposition are being detained and stopped from seeing the families of the deceased farmers. If opposition will not remain, then democracy will also not remain," Chaudhary said. Chaudhary, who had met one of the bereaved families in Lakhimpur Kheri on Monday, said he felt he was in Kashmir during his visit. “During the visit to Lakhimpur Kheri, I felt I’m in Kashmir or in a Naxal area, because internet services had been snapped, even phones were not working in the region,” he said at an event in Muzaffarnagar’s Sisauli organised by the leaders of Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) on the birth anniversary of BKU founder Mahendra Singh Tikait. Farmer leaders gathered in large numbers said the protest against the farm laws would continue “till their last breath”. BKU chief Naresh Tikait said the way the farmers were being treated now — as evident by what happened in Lakhimpur Kheri — was worse than the atrocities that were committed in the colonial-era. “Farmers are being called Khalistani and Pakistani. They have been on dharna for 10 months and many have lost their lives." he said. Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad and Karan Chautala, son of Indian National Lok Dal senior leader Abhay Singh Chautala, also attended the event. Heavy police force was deployed even as additional district magistrate Amit Kumar and several officials stayed in the village during the event.

The Times of India

2021-10-07

Meerut