Cong leader arrested over anti-CAA protest, Priyanka slams UP govt

A senior Uttar Pradesh Congress leader was arrested on charges of alleged destruction of public properties during last year's 'anti-CAA' protest in the state capital of Lucknow triggering a sharp reaction from party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

Shahnawaz Alam, who was the chairman of the party's minority cell in the state, was arrested from his residence in Lucknow on Monday(June 29) night along with another person.

''Alam has been charged with torching vehicles and attacking the cops during violent demonstration at Parivartan Chowk against the Citizenship Amendment Act,'' a senior police official here said on Tuesday.

Hundreds of Congress workers and leaders, including UP party president Ajai Kumar Lallu, created a ruckus at the police station, where Alam was kept, after which the cops made lathi charge to disperse them.

Priyanka, who also in-charge of the state, slammed the state government for Alam's arrest and said that Congress would continue to raise its voice against the repressive tactics of the government.

''You (UP govt) can silence other parties by repression but you can not crush the voice of the Congress workers,'' Priyanka said in a post on Twitter.

The Congress leader also uploaded the CCTV footage of the residential complex from where Alam had been picked at night. ''See how the police picked up our leader in the darkness of night,'' she said in her post.

UP police had booked hundreds of people in connection with last year's violent demonstrations against the CAA and had also imposed hefty fines over the accused.