Arrested SP Leader Was To Highlight BJP Govt's Failure Issues, Claims Akhilesh Yadav

The party alleges his arrest is politically motivated and accused the Lucknow Police of "forcibly" taking its trade wing president into custody, fearing for his safety.

Lucknow, Feb 15 (PTI): Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday said that Manish Jagan Aggarwal, who had been arrested by the Lucknow police, was to highlight the failures of the BJP government and traders' issues on the party's behalf.

On Friday, the party accused the Lucknow Police of "forcibly" taking its trade wing president into custody, fearing for his safety.

“He is a patient of high blood pressure and his wife is also pregnant. If any harm happens to Manish Jagan ji or his family then Lucknow Police will be responsible for it," the party said in the post earlier.

In response to the party’s allegations, the Lucknow Police in a post on X said, “To prevent the strong possibility of continuously creating negativity, unrest and violence in the society through objectionable posts on social media, Manish Jagan Aggarwal was arrested and further legal action was taken against him."

Speaking to the reporters outside the party office in Lucknow, Yadav said that Aggarwal was to highlight the failures of the BJP government and the issues faced by the traders.

"By the time traders understand GST, the government will change the way of collecting GST. Because of the GST, the government's profiteering (policies) and electoral bonds, we have to face inflation. Because of these (factors), inflation is increasing. These questions were raised by Aggarwal, but (we) don't know what problem the government has with the Samajwadi Media Cell," he said.

"And this is not the first time this has happened, it happened last time also when I had to go to Police Bhavan (apparently referring to his visit to the UP Police Headquarters in 2023). These BJP people have made the entire police force a part of the BJP. I will tell the police to leave their uniform. Bad things were being said about the SP's cap sometimes. The BJP people too have started wearing caps. You (police) should wear that cap and sit in the police station," he asserted.

Meanwhile, the party in a post on X, "If any objectionable post has been made by Manish Jagan which leads to unrest and violence, then Lucknow Police should share that post or else stop exploiting opposition leaders with baseless things." 

(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)