The Uttar Pradesh Government has denied permission to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to visit Lakhimpur Kheri. Gandhi was to lead a five-member party delegation to Lakhimpur Kheri on Wednesday. The opposition party, in a letter, had asked UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to allow the visit.

 Rahul Gandhi’s visit to Lakhimpur Kheri area was denied in the wake of Section 144 that has been imposed following the October 3 incident, news agency ANI reported. 

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Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Misra’s son Ashish Misra has been accused of running over a group of protesting farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri, resulting in four deaths. Clashes following the deaths of the farmers led to four more deaths.

Leaders of the opposition parties have drawn sharp criticism on ‘no rule of law in UP’ after Congress general secretary and UP in-charge Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was booked late on Monday, after she tried to meet the bereaved. 

Gandhi Vadra has been booked under Section 151 of the CrPC (to prevent commission of cognizable offence). An FIR was registered against Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav for “violation of Section 144 (on unlawful assembly)”.

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Congress leader and Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel held a two-hour dharna at Lucknow airport after he was stopped from leaving the premises.

“I am not going to Lakhimpur where prohibitory orders are in place. I am only going to the Uttar Pradesh Congress office,” Baghel said, adding he also wanted to meet Vadra, held in Sitapur.

 “The truth of Lakhimpur will come to light one day… Those who speak in a language warning the farmers to mend their ways (said in a speech by Union minister Ajay Mishra) will have to be dismissed, and his son, who trampled the farmers, will have to go behind bars,” he added. 

Also read: PM Modi in Lucknow: Stays mum on Lakhimpur Kheri violence, slams SP

Congress leader P Chidambaram said that the facts and circumstances of Vadra’s detention “conclusively establish that there is no rule of law in UP”.

“She has been in detention for more than 30 hours. She has not been produced before a Judicial Magistrate… Her constitutional rights under Articles 19 and 21 have been grossly violated,” he said. 

 “Whether it is the government at the Centre or in Uttar Pradesh, they are not sensitive. The kind of situation created in Jallianwala Bagh, we are witnessing a similar situation in UP,” NCP chief Sharad Pawar said. 

Meanwhile, a five-member delegation of Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders met the families of the deceased farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri on Tuesday. This was the only delegation of opposition leaders that managed to travel all the way to the area amid prohibitory orders issued by the district administration. In a press statement, the Trinamool Congress revealed that the delegation of party leaders “identified themselves as tourists” to enter Uttar Pradesh.