BSP-SP delegation tells UP governor that 'dictator' Yogi Adityanath's govt 'undemocratically' stopped Akhilesh Yadav at Lucknow airport

Lucknow: A 15-member joint delegation of Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) leaders on Wednesday met Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik in Lucknow, and submitted a memorandum over the detention of former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav at Lucknow airport by authorities.

In the memorandum to the governor, the SP and BSP, who in January announced their coalition for the upcoming Lok Sabha election, alleged that the SP chief was stopped “undemocratically” by the police on an order of the “dictator” Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s government.

The development comes hours after UP Police filed cases against 296 people, including two SP MPs — Dharmendra Yadav and Nagendra Singh Patel — in connection with the protest by SP workers on Tuesday.

“We have met the Governor to discuss the grave situation in UP. We have asked him to take action against the dictator Yogi Adityanath for their undemocratic action of detaining Akhilesh Yadav at the airport,” said an SP leader.

SP workers had on Tuesday raised slogans against Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath and the state government after their leader was stopped at the Lucknow airport. Akhilesh was on his way to Allahabad University to attend a swearing-in ceremony of a student leader.

“Our workers were protesting silently against the government order, the police started lathi charge, We have asked the Governor to order an investigation in this matter,” he said.

On Tuesday, Akhilesh had claimed that the authorities failed to cite reasons for stopping him from boarding the flight. “The sole purpose of preventing me from attending the student union’s programme is to suppress socialist ideas and voices among the youth,” he had said.

However, the university had said in a letter that politicians were not allowed to attend the event.

Adityanath had also claimed that the Samajwadi Party president’s visit to Allahabad could have sparked a row in Prayagraj, where Kumbh Mela is going on.