Yogendra Yadav says TN Police detained him, prevented him from meeting farmers opposing Salem expressway in Tiruvannamalai

Swaraj India leader and co-founder Yogendra Yadav on Saturday claimed he was detained and manhandled by the Tamil Nadu Police in Tiruvannamalai district. He was in Tamil Nadu to meet the farmers protesting against the proposed eight-lane Salem-Chennai expressway on the invitation of ‘Movement Against 8-Lane Way’. In a series of tweets, he claimed the police prevented him from meeting the farmers and pushed him into a police van. Talking to The Times of India , Yadav said he and his team were heading to meet the farmers at their homes, but the police did not let them proceed. “We tried contacting the Tiruvannamalai district collector to explain the purpose of our visit. But police officials snatched our phones and dragged us to their vehicles.”

In another tweet, the Swaraj India leader claimed they did not know whether they were under detention or arrest. He also told The New Indian Express that after he got in touch with district collector KS Kandasamy and spoke to him about land acquisition and complaints of police excesses, the Tiruvannamalai district collector denied any such action. Yadav claimed he was detained minutes after talking to Kandasamy. 

“The police alleged that I am a threat to law and order. I had come here to meet farmers and no matter what, I shall follow my conscience and meet them,” Yadav told The New Indian Express. Meanwhile, the Tamil Nadu Police has denied these allegations, saying Yadav had not sought their permission before meeting the farmers, according to NDTV . They added that the Swaraj India leader and his team would have needed police protection as the situation could have turned volatile, given the sensitivity of the matter. DMK leader MK Stalin condemned the detention and tweeted:

The proposed 277.3-kilometre Salem-Chennai expressway has been facing opposition from local residents, including farmers, as well as activists. Environmentalists are also opposed to the prospect of a large number of trees being cut for the project. Tiruvannamalai is one of the five districts that the proposed superhighway is to pass through. The other districts are Kancheepuram, Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri, and Salem. The longest stretch of the proposed highway, which will pass through Tiruvannamalai, is expected to have a damaging impact on the pristine Eastern Ghats forest environment, say ecologists. In Tiruvannamalai alone, where 123.9 kilometres of the proposed highway would pass through, about 95 percent of the land procured is precious agricultural land. With inputs from PTI