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Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav was detained on Monday, 4 October, by the Uttar Pradesh police from outside his residence in Lucknow where he was staging a sit-in protest after being stopped from visiting Lakhimpur Kheri, where eight people including four farmers were killed on Sunday, 3 October.
Yadav said during the protest outside his house, "Even the British did not commit such atrocities as much as the BJP government is doing on the farmers. The Minister of State for Home and the Deputy Chief Minister should resign. Rs 2 crore should be given to the farmers who have lost their lives. Their families should be given government jobs", NDTV reported.
Yadav added, "The government does not want any political leaders to go there. What is the government hiding?"
Several security personnel have also been deployed outside Yadav's residence, while SP protestors set flame to a police jeep.
Police Commissioner Lucknow DK Thakur said that Akhilesh Yadav, SP leader and general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav and Pragatisheel SP founder Shivpal Yadav have been held in violation of imposition of Section 144.
Last night, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi was also detained and stopped from visiting kin of the victims.
Meanwhile, the UP government has asked the Punjab chief secretary in an official letter to not let anyone from the state go to Lakhimpur.
As per Congress sources, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and Punjab Deputy Chief Minister SS Randhawa were also not allowed to land in Lucknow, NDTV reported.
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