The ruling party in India's UP – Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – has been criticised by the opposition Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for blocking a campaign rally named after the national flag.
AAP parliamentarian Sanjay Singh on Thursday lashed out at the Yogi Adityanath government for denying his party permission.
Sharing a letter on Twitter, he wrote: “It seems there is a British rule in Uttar Pradesh. The state administration of Yogi Adityanath government has declared ‘Tiranga Yatra’ illegal. Murdering someone is not a crime in Yogi’s governance while taking out ‘Tiranga Yatra’ is a crime.”
Tiranga Yatra is a series of APP electoral rallies, which aim to boost support in poll-bound UP.
Currently, the AAP is ruling in India’s capital city Delhi and is set to contest elections in the states of UP, Punjab, and Goa.
On Thursday, AAP politician Sanjay Singh was scheduled to lead a Tiranga Yatra rally in the Varanasi district of UP but was detained by state police.
Varanasi is also the parliamentary constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who belongs to the BJP.
In a video, the AAP parliamentarian can be seen arguing with the police for denying him permission to visit the district.
Singh also posted a letter he wrote to Chairman of the Parliament's upper house Rajya Sabha seeking his intervention in the matter.
He wrote in Hindi: “I have been illegally stopped in Shivpur area of Varanasi by the heavy police force... The government has already illegally slapped 17 cases against me to date to harass me... Any untoward incident can happen, please intervene immediately.”
The AAP also accused the BJP of politicising nationalism.
Delhi’s Deputy State Chief Manish Sisodia, who is also from the AAP, tweeted in Hindi: “It is a crime to take out ‘Tiranga Yatra’ in Uttar Pradesh in the 75th year of Independence because people who are in the power in the state are afraid of the tricolour and those who take pride in it.”
Tricolour is the national flag of India.
Questioning why Sanjay Singh was detained, AAP president and Delhi state chief Kejriwal tweeted in Hindi: “How can taking out Tiranga Yatra be a crime in India? Why were those arrested who hoisted the tricolour? What kind of law is this?”
Sanjay Singh also posted a video with the Indian national flag, called "Tiranga" (tricolour) in Hindi, saying that the BJP is afraid of the flag.
“The RSS, the parent organisation of the BJP, didn’t hoist the national flag at its headquarters for 52 years. So, it has been the history of the BJP to disrespect the national flag,” he claims in the video.
The BJP, Samajwadi Party, Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party, AAP, and several other parties will contest the elections for 403 legislative assembly seats in UP. This is the first time that the AAP will contest the polls in the state.