On Wednesday, security was beefed up by barricading all roads leading to the Uttar Pradesh Assembly complex ahead of the state. Congress’s ‘Vidhana Sabha siege’ programme To oppose the government’s policy.
The authorities said there are prohibitory orders and no one will be allowed to defy the order.
The restrictions are in place in Lucknow under Section 163 (power to issue orders in urgent cases of nuisance or danger) of the Indian Civil Security Code (BNSS), a senior official said. Barricading has been set up on the way to the state assembly, while forces have been deployed outside the Congress office in the Mall Avenue area here.
Congress spokesperson Manish Hindvi said that thousands of workers have reached the party office and the ‘Gherao’ will begin around noon.
“It will be led by Congress state president Ajay Rai and UP in-charge Avinash Pandey,” he added.
When asked about the proposed siege, Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak said that the plan was to grab the headlines of the newspapers and that the Congress had nothing to do with the people.
Congress is ‘surrounded by corruption and its workers are directionless’, Pathak said Gherao would prove to be a ‘flop show’.
“The state is progressing rapidly with its all-round development after 2017. The people of the entire state believe that the government has worked to bring Uttar Pradesh first in the nation. Law and order has improved,” he said.
On Tuesday, Rai claimed that the state government had detained party workers in various districts to prevent them from participating in the demonstration, fearing the opposition to the ‘unjust’ policy of the Congress.
‘The Yogi government, which is alarmed by Congress’ assembly siege programme, is adopting undemocratic measures. Leaders and workers have been threatened and detained by the police. This is a shameful violation of democratic values and an attack on the voice of the people,” Rai alleged.
Rai said that the Congress would react strongly to the state government’s autocratic attitude and police repression, and warned of a state-wide protest if such actions continued.
This government has trampled on democratic principles, but the Congress will not back down. Our workers are ready to confront the government on issues like unemployment, inflation, mismanagement and maladministration by the BJP government. Rai said.
“The government may erect barricades or use police force, but Congress workers are ready to fight. We are committed to confronting the government and exposing its tyrannical behavior,” he added.
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