Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu was on Thursday taken into custody by the Uttar Pradesh (UP) police while he was leading the party’s protest march towards UP’s Lakhimpur Kheri to protest the killing of farmers in an incident of violence on Sunday.

The party members and Punjab ministers accompanying Sidhu were also taken into custody. Sidhu was leading a protest march of Congress workers from Punjab to Lakhimpur Kheri. Hundreds of supporters gathered at the UP-Haryana border to march with Sidhu and raised slogans.

Earlier, leading the march to Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh (UP), Sidhu threatened to go on hunger strike if Union minister Ajay Kumar Mishra’s son is not arrested by Friday in connection
with the death of farmers during violence in UP.

Union minister of state for Home Mishra’s son has been booked for allegedly mowing down four farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri on Sunday. Mishra has, however, denied allegations about his son’s involvement in the case.

A large number of party leaders including ministers, legislators and workers first assembled at Mohali (adjoining Chandigarh) and then headed towards Lakhimpur Kheri in their vehicles. Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi also joined Sidhu for a brief period when the march was about to start.

Sidhu had resigned from the post of Punjab Congress chief on September 28 but it wasn’t immediately clear if the resignation was withdrawn. Before the protest march Thursday, Sidhu slammed the BJP-led government in UP over the Lakhimpur Kheri incident.

He said Punjab Congress and party MLAs are standing firmly with the farmers. He asked why UP authorities hadn’t taken action against Mishra’s son even after an FIR was lodged in the matter.

“Is Union minister and his son above the law and constitution?” he asked.

“This fight is for our farmers,” he said, adding: “If UP police do not arrest the union minister’s son, I will go on hunger strike. It is my “vachan” (promise).”

Later, he said, “If the arrest is not made till tomorrow (Friday), or he does not join the investigation, I will go on a hunger strike.”

Sidhu called Congress leaders Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Rahul Gandhi “saviours of democracy.” Four of the eight people who died in Sunday’s violence in Lakhimpur Kheri were farmers, allegedly knocked down by vehicles driven by BJP workers travelling to welcome UP Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya to an event in the area.

Two BJP workers, Mishra’s driver, and Raman Kashyap, a journalist working for a private TV channel, were also killed in the incident. Ends