Bharat bandh: Life remains normal as UP police detain leaders

Lucknow, Dec 8 (IANS) Leaders of farmer organisations, the Samajwadi Party and the Congress across Uttar Pradesh were either taken into custody or put under house arrest to prevent them from holding demonstrations during the Bharat Bandh on Tuesday.Former minister Arvind Singh Gope of Samajwadi Party was put under house arrest in Barabanki.”Since morning, these policemen are at my house and they have not even allowed me to go to the nearby Hanuman temple even though I go there on Tuesdays. This government is not even allowing us to offer prayers,” he told IANS on phone.SP MLAs also staged a dharna at Vidhan Bhawan to register their protest against the farm laws.In Rae Bareli, SP leader Manoj Pandey was put under house arrest while SP MLA Amitabh Bajpai was detained at his house in Kanpur.Congress spokesman Anshu Awasthi was detained in Hardoi.State president of Kisan Manch, Devendra Tiwari, was detained in Lucknow and more than a dozen SP leaders taken into custody in Varanasi.UPCC president Ajay Kumar Lallu said that his party workers had been targeted by the police in almost every district of the state. He said that this kind of action would not deter the Congress and the party would continue to fight for the farmers.Congress spokesman Ashish Awasthi said, “Our party leaders have been either put under house arrest or taken into custody in almost every district. The government is using the police to thwart the agitation.”Meanwhile, all shops in Lucknow and other districts of the state remained open and public transport plied on the roads. A few shopkeepers, apprehending trouble, kept their establishments closed in the morning but most of them opened up by noon.–IANSamita/ash