Police detain Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav

Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], December 7 (ANI): Samajwadi Party (SP) chief and former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav was detained by the state police while he was staging a sit-in protest in Lucknow on Monday.
Earlier, the SP chief and his party workers had staged the sit-in protest as their vehicles en route to Kannauj were stopped by the state police.
The former chief minister was scheduled to visit Kannauj to stage a demonstration in support of farmers agitating against Centre's new farm laws.
The SP Chief demanded that the Centre repeal the farm laws and said it should tell the farmers when will they bring the MSP (Minimum Support Price) that will double the farmers' income.
"If the laws were for farmers benefit, and the farmers are not happy with them, why was the Centre not repealing them?" asked Akhilesh.
Yadav accused the BJP of trying to end democracy and suppressing the voice of farmers.
"If the BJP organises any programme, there is no Coronavirus but if someone does something for farmers, a pandemic is spread," he alleged.
Claiming that his party workers were not afraid of going to jail the SP chief said that his workers protesting at several locations in the state have been arrested.
"The police can put us in jail if they want. They have also stopped our vehicles but we will walk," he said.
The SP chief asked why barricades were placed at his residence and why staff were not allowed to enter the party office.
Police force was deployed outside the SP's residence at Vikramaditya Marg in Lucknow where they took two party MLCs Rajpal Kashyap and Aashu Malik into custody while they were trying to visit the party office.
The SP leader claimed that his party always worked for the farmers' interests.
Meanwhile, opposition parties, including Congress, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist), Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Samajwadi Party (SP), All India Forward Bloc (AIFB), Shiv Sena and National Congress Party (NCP) extended support to the call for a Bharat bandh on December 8.
The fifth round of talks remained inconclusive with government and farmers agreeing on drafting a new set of amendments to the existing farm laws.
Hundreds of farmers have been protesting on different borders of the national capital since November 26 against the three newly enacted farm laws--Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020. (ANI)