Priyanka Gandhi on Monday alleged that she was pushed and manhandled before the Uttar Pradesh police detained her in the early hours of morning at Sitapur guest house and that she was not shown any papers for the arrest.
"They did not show me any papers. If they do not give me any papers, then I will call it kidnapping," the Congress leader told NDTV in an exclusive interview from a guest house in Sitapur where she was detained. The police informed her that she was being arrested under Section 151 on grounds of preventing a "crime in future", she said.
"If they don't charge me in 24 hours under Section 151, I can walk free. I don't have access to lawyers though I am told I have the right," Priyanka Gandhi said. "Today's incident shows that this government is using politics to mow down farmers. This is the farmers' country, not BJP's... I'm not committing any crime by deciding to meet the victims' kin...Why are you stopping us? You should have a warrant," the Congress leader said.
In her exclusive, she questioned why the UP police had not arrested Union Minister Ajay Kumar Mishra's son Ashish, who is accused of running over protesting farmers at Lakhimpur Kheri district but stopping the opposition from reaching the spot.
On Sunday, four farmers were among eight persons killed in UP's Lakhimpur Kheri after a convoy of three SUVs, hit a group of farm protesters leading to a clash.
Later, even Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav was also detained by the UP police from outside his residence in Lucknow where he staged a protest on Sunday.
