The Uttar Pradesh Police on Monday forcibly stopped Congress workers from paying a floral tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on the foundation day of the Congress party, following which the party’s UP chief Ajay Kumar Lallu staged a sit-in at the party headquarters in Lucknow.
“We only wanted to pay a floral tribute to Mahatma Gandhi. Will this Yogi government will not allow us to do so?” Lallu was seen arguing with a senior police officer when he was proceeding to the statue with party workers in a procession.
The Congress leaders had in the morning declared that they will peacefully move in a procession towards Hazratganj to pay their tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on the party’s foundation day.
“We were doing what we had promised. We only wanted to walk to Mahatma Gandhi’s statue in a peaceful procession and return to the party office. But it seems that this autocratic government does not want us even to pay a tribute to Mahatma Gandhi,” Lallu said.
He said his request to the police official to allow them to proceed to the statue was denied by him. “So, we are sitting on protest against the autocratic decision of the Yogi government,” he said.
The district administration, however, said that the area at Hazratganj is a prohibited zone for protests and thus the Congress procession was stopped.
