Akhilesh Yadav’s foot march to Vidhan Sabha against UP govt stopped midway in Lucknow

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav alleged that the march was stopped because “the government was afraid of answering its questions”, but police said the MLAs were given a different route to avoid traffic congestion, but they had refused to follow it.

Samajwadi Party MLAs led by Leader of Opposition and party president Akhilesh Yadav hold a protest march from party office to UP Assembly in Lucknow on Monday (Express photo by Vishal Srivastav)

The Samajwadi Party (SP) on Monday took out a foot march against the ruling BJP government in Uttar Pradesh, with party president Akhilesh Yadav leading the march from the SP office to the Vidhan Sabha in Lucknow. The party leaders, however, were stopped midway amid heavy police deployment and barricading.

Prevented from proceeding further, Akhilesh, along with other SP MLAs and leaders holding placards, sat on a dharna near the barricading and held a mock Assembly session at 11 am. They also observed a two-minute silence in honour of sitting and former MLAs who passed away recently, similar to how it is done in the Legislative Assembly.

The SP chief alleged that the foot march was stopped because “the government was afraid of answering its questions”. Akhilesh said that from now on the Samajwadi Party would continue to make the government answerable for various issues in the state “be it on the road or inside the Assembly”. During the protest march, SP leaders raised issues of law and order, unemployment, and farmers’ woes.

Samajwadi Party members led by Akhilesh Yadav sat down in a dharna during their march to the Assembly (Express photo by Vishal Srivastav)

Speaking about the foot march being stopped midway, Lucknow police commissioner S B Siradhkar said the MLAs were given a different route to avoid traffic congestion, but they had refused to follow it.

Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said nothing more can be expected from SP leaders other than defying rules.

After the house was adjourned for the day, Akhilesh Yadav, along with his MLAs and other party leaders, returned to the party office to prepare for the next round of action, sources said.

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