By IANS,
Lucknow : Hundreds of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) activists were Tuesday detained after they clashed with the police in parts of Uttar Pradesh during demonstrations against the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) government.
Holding protest rallies against “the deteriorating law and order situation, corruption and undemocratic actions of the BSP government”, a large number of BJP activists hit the streets in various districts, including Lucknow, blockaded roads, forced closure of shops and tried to disrupt work at several government offices.
In districts like Sitapur, Jaunpur, Varanasi, Maharajganj, Balrampur and Sant Kabir Nagar, BJP activists clashed with police, which assaulted them with batons to disperse them.
Unruly scenes were witnessed during the demonstrations when BJP activists fought pitched battles with the police after they were prevented from taking out marches.
However, the agitation in Lucknow remained by and large peaceful. Senior BJP leaders, including Kalraj Mishra and Lalji Tandon, led the demonstrations in Qaiserbagh area.
“We would continue to hold similar agitation programmes to unmask the state government,” BJP spokesperson in the state V.B. Pathak told reporters here.
“Today also, at the behest of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati only, our activists were targeted while carrying out demonstrations,” he added.
“We know the state government will adopt every harsh measure to suppress our agitation, but we want to make it very clear that we would continue our fight against the BSP government,” Pathak said.