Meet Pooja Shukla, SP Candidate From Lucknow North Who Once Waved Black Flags At CM Yogi

When asked about why she chose SP, Shukla said she was impressed by the political struggle of party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav and policies of Akhilesh Yadav.

Samajwadi Party candidate from Lucknow North seat Pooka Shukla. (Image: Twitter/@poojashukla04)

Lucknow: Pooja Shukla, the student activist, who waved black flag at Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath back in 2017 and also participated in Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests in 2022 has now been given a ticket by Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party (SP) from Lucknow (North) assembly seat.

According to reports, Shukla was named SP candidate on February 1 and she turned 25 in January. Reportedly, she is one of the youngest candidate in Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls.

Shukla has been actively campaigning for Samajwadi Party even before she was named a party candidate.

When asked about why she chose SP, Shukla said she was impressed by the political struggle of party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav and policies of Akhilesh Yadav.

"As a youngster who has been active in student politics, I find SP closer to democratic values, something which the BJP and its supporters are hell-bent on violating," she told the news agency.

As a politician, Shukla said, she wants to continue fighting for the rights of youngsters and students.

Shukla hogged national headlines in June 2017 when she, along with 10 others, tried to stop Adityanath's cavalcade in Lucknow and waved black flags to protest against government policies.

"On June 7, 2017, when Yogi was on his way to the Lucknow University campus to take part in `Hindi Swaraj Diwas' event, students affiliated to All India Students Association, Students Federation of India and Samajwadi Chhatra Sabha sat on the road and blocked his convoy, showed him black flags and raised slogans against the state government," the SP candidate told news agency PTI.

For her actions, Shukla and others were arrested and sent to jail the other day. All the accused were booked and charged under subsequent sections of the Indian Penal Court.

Later on, Shukla was released after 20 days on the condition of furnishing two sureties of Rs 40,000 each and a personal bond of the same amount.

"We were arrested and sent to jail the next day. This happened despite using democratic means to protest. I had never thought we would be arrested but it reaffirmed my faith in fighting for what is right," Shukla recalled the incident.

(With inputs from PTI.)