Congress workers Friday held a protest here against the detention of party leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra by police in Uttar Pradesh’s Mirzapur district. The Congress general secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh East was on Friday detained and stopped from going to Sonbhadra where 10 people were gunned down this week and taken to a guesthouse after she squatted on the road, insisting that she be allowed to proceed. Led by Jammu and Kashmir Congress chief Gulam Ahmed Mir, a large number of Congress workers and leaders assembled in front of the party headquarters at Shaheedi Chowk here and held a protest against the BJP-led Uttar Pradesh government and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. The workers were carrying Congress flags and shouting slogans against the BJP. They also burnt an effigy of the UP chief minister. Raising slogans in favour of Priyanka, the workers slammed the BJP government in the state for preventing her to proceed to meet the families of the victims. Addressing the media, Mir criticised the BJP government in UP for the “worst law and order situation” in the state. He also lashed out at it for the “anti-democratic action” of preventing Priyanka and taking her into custody when she wanted to lead a small delegation to meet the “victims of massacre”. Mir alleged that the UP government prevented Priyanka to “hide its worst failure to maintain law and order and ensure the safety and security of the poor people”. Ten people were killed and 18 injured in the clash between supporters of a village head and Gond tribals over a piece of land in Sonbhadra’s Ghorawal area on Wednesday.
