City police on Monday arrested Congress leader Chintu Chokse and some of the activists to thwart their attempt to show black flags to BJP leader Jyotiraditya Scindia on his first visit to city after joining BJP and becoming Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha).
Chokse and his supporters were arrested from Chandragupta Maurya Square where they had erected a tent and launched a signature campaign against the state government and in support of No School No Fees campaign.
Police arrested Congress activists on the charge of organising protest without permission as Congress had launched the signature campaign at 18 places. Later, activists also created ruckus outside Central Jail and tried to blockade the road after which activists were sent to temporary jail in Asarawad.
“We organised the programme against the state government and private schools against their demand for fees when schools are closed. It is a double standard of police that they arrested us but didn’t take any action on BJP for organising similar programmes,” Chokse told media.
Meanwhile, Congress MLA Sanjay Shukla said that protesting against the poor policies and activities of government is their right as the opposition party.
“We will protest against wrong policies of the government and if the police want to arrest us then let them. My arrest for protesting against school fees shows that the government has become a tyrant,” he added.
City Congress president Vinay Bakliwal said that Congress was not protesting against Scindia visit and allegations are false.
“Congress leaders had not sought any permission to hold the programme/protest. We have arrested around 65 agitators including Choukse and Raju Bhadoriya under section 151, 188 and 269 of IPC,” ASP Shashikant Kankane told media.
Social distancing goes for a toss
No social distancing was followed by Congress activists during the protest and many of them didn’t even wear masks. However, agitating Congressmen alleged that the BJP was not following social distancing norm during Scindia’s visit.
