Farmers' Protest: Samajwadi Party president and former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Akhilesh Yadav, who was earlier detained by Lucknow police over violation of section 144 as he tried to hold a rally from Lucknow to Kannauj to demonstrate his support for the farmers, has written a letter to Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla. He has alleged that preventing him from exercising his democratic rights through peaceful protests amounted to a breach of privilege. He urged the Speaker to immediately intervene and ensure that his democratic rights are protected.

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He said that he had been a Chief Minister, and is a Member of Parliament, but the Uttar Pradesh government has prevented him from participating in a party programme in Kannauj.

He said that his house was surrounded by the police and even his vehicles were seized.

Yadav and other Samajwadi Party leaders were detained earlier today as they stage a sit-in protest in Lucknow on now being permitted to visit Kannauj to hold a protest in support of farmers.

He has been taken to the Eco Garden after he was taken into custody, where thousands of Samajwadi Party workers have reached the Eco Garden and are shouting slogans against the government.

Akhilesh said that whenever he is released, he will go to Kannauj to participate in the Kisan Yatra.

A heavy deployment of forces has been made at the Eco Garden that was built by Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati when she was the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh.

Yadav had planned to organise the signature tractor rally of the SP in the support of the ongoing farmers’ protest against the contentious farm laws of the centre. The Lucknow police however  denied the permission for rally and blocked his movement in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.  Yadav was planning to travel on a tractor from Thathia to Tirwa, covering almost 13 kilometres.

"Under the BJP's rule, the farmers have faced injustice the most. The BJP is selling mandis and the farmers are not even getting the minimum support price of paddy. The prices of fertilisers and pesticides have gone up. The BJP government has shown an insensitive attitude towards farmers," the SP had earlier said in the statement.