LUCKNOW: On a day of intense political tussle over the alleged gang-rape and murder of a Dalit woman in Hathras, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were on Thursday briefly detained by the UP police while on their way to meet her family. A footage of the incident showing a scuffle between Congress workers and the UP police, during which Rahul got knocked down, added to the drama.
Earlier, the convoy of the Congress leaders was stopped on the Yamuna Expressway in Greater Noida. The police told them not to proceed to Hathras as Section 144 was in force there. But Rahul and Priyanka alighted from their vehicle and started proceeding on foot along the Yamuna expressway to Hathras.
The scuffle broke out when the police tried to stop them again. Rahul and Priyanka were briefly detained and then taken back to Delhi by the police. Later, an FIR was filed against them and over 130 Congress workers for flouting prohibitory orders under Section 144. For his part, Rahul criticised the Yogi government, calling it jungle raj. “It is Jungle Raj in UP that meeting a family in mourning scares the government. Don’t be so afraid chief minister,” he tweeted.
‘Lathis rained on us’
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi said, “When we all started our march on foot with Rahul ji, we were repeatedly stopped and lathis rained on us in a barbaric manner.”