Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was detained by the Uttar Pradesh police early morning Monday while the Congress leader headed to meet families of four farmers killed in the wake of violence during a protest against farm laws on Sunday, reports NDTV. 

“I am not important than the people you have killed. The government you are defending. You give me a legal warrant, a legal basis or else I will not move from here and you won’t touch me,” the Congress leader is heard saying in a video after her convoy was stopped in Sitapur. 

Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh turned into a political hotspot after eight people, four among them farmers, were killed in the violence which erupted on Sunday over a visit of two ministers. Farmers’ unions in several parts of the country, especially in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana, have been protesting against three agriculture laws brought in by the Centre.

Following Sunday’s violence, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra set out for Lakhimpur. Farmers’ union leader Rakesh Tikait has already reached Lakhimpur, according to media reports.

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s journey to Lakhimpur has been fraught with tension. The Congress leader left for Lakhimpur late in the night after the party expressed apprehension that she may have been put under house arrest in Lucknow to prevent her from going there. 

Priyanka Gandhi is expected to meet farmers injured in Sunday’s violence. On her way to Lakhimpur Kheri, Priyanka Gandhi’s convoy was briefly stopped. Videos of her altercation with the police have flooded social media. 

“How much does BJP hate the farmers of the country? Don’t they have a right to live? If they raise their voice will you shoot them, will you crush them with your car…” Priyanka Gandhi wrote on Twitter earlier on Sunday. 

What happened in Lakhimpur Kheri?

Farm groups, who were assembled in Lakhimpur Kheri to stop the visit of two ministers on Sunday, told NDTV that the violence in Lakhimpur Kheri started after their car “mowed down protestors”. Visuals from the area showed evidence of arson and vehicles set on fire. 

According to Darshan Pal, a leader of the farmers’ union, the farmers had planned to gherao the helipad to stop the arrival of the ministers. “Once that ended and most people were on their way back, three cars came and mowed down the farmers…one farmer died on the spot and another in the hospital,” said Darshan Pal.

BJP leaders veritably denied the claims of farmers and said that there were miscreants who attacked their party workers with sticks and swords.