Samajwadi Party leader, Akhilesh Yadav was detained at Lucknow airport after he was stopped by the police from boarding a special flight to Prayagraj (formerly Allahabad). The former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh was scheduled to attend an oath taking function of the Allahabad University Students’ Union on Tuesday afternoon. This issue created a ruckus in the Rajya Sabha which was adjourned for the day. How the state police of Uttar Pradesh was used to prevent Akhilesh from boarding the aircraft is another violation of airport regulations since all airports are manned by Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).
UP Chief Minister, Yogi Adityanath who is known for his vengeful politics is getting back at Akhilesh Yadav. The latter had prevented him from entering the same University in 2015 when he was the UP CM and Adityanath the BJP MP from Gorakhpur. Adityanath stopped in his tracks by the Samajwadi Party’s youth wing. This time around it is the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) the students’ wing of the BJP which is preventing Akhilesh from entering the University. That such ugly politics has gripped an educational institution can only mean that it is being run according to the whims of the ruling party and is not independent academia.
In the world of twitter this news did not take long to reach all corners of the country even as Akhilesh Yadav posted pictures of the incident at Lucknow airport. The Samajwadi Party leader’s media team went on overdrive to show a policeman in plains-clothes stopping Akhilesh from entering the airport. Later Yogi Adityanath while speaking to the media said that the administration feared that the Samajwadi Party’s youth wing would create a law and order situation within the campus if Akhilesh attended the function.
BSP leader and former Chief Minister of UP, Mayawati and Trinamool leader Mamata Banerjee who are part of the new Opposition Alliance also joined issues and accused the BJP of throttling democracy. Mamata who is still smarting from the recent high-handed handling of the CBI in her territory against her top cop, Rajeev Kumar spares no occasion to hit back at Prime Minister Modi and the BJP. This incident in UP today has only given the anti-BJP forces a handle to mount further attack on the Modi Government. It is expected that all the other anti-BJP forces will now throw their weight behind Akhilesh Yadav.