Uttar Pradesh police arrest SP workers for vandalism at PM Modi's Kanpur rally

The Uttar Pradesh police on Tuesday arrested five Samajwadi Party (SP) workers who have been accused of vandalism in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Kanpur rally with an attempt to spoil the atmosphere by burning a poster of PM Modi and vandalizing a car. The five accused party workers are Mulayam Singh Youth Brigade spokesperson Sukant Sharma, National Secretary of the SP students’ body Sachin Kesharwani, city secretary of the youth brigade Abhishek Rawat, and Nitesh Kumar. The video of the incident was later widely circulated on various social media platforms. 

As per the police officials, an FIR has been filed against Samajwadi Party worker Sachin Kesarwani and other 8-10 party workers who carried out the vandalism and burned the PM's effigy in broad daylight. The case has been registered based on inputs taken by the local people and a video that has gone viral on the Internet showing Samajwadi Party workers with red caps on their heads carrying out the activities. 

BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra slammed the SP for inciting violence amd said, "Yesterday, just before the Prime Minister addressed the rally, a video went viral on social media. There was a BJP car in that video, some lotus (symbol of BJP) stickers were put on it and a poster of the Prime Minister was also put on the back of the car. Later, an investigation was done by police and it was found that this car was also not of BJP worker but of Ankur Patel, another leader of SP Chhatra Sabha. This car was decorated as a BJP car." 

PM Modi in Kanpur

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on a visit to Kanpur to inaugurate multiple development projects in the city, including the Kanpur Metro Rail Project. Sharing a video from the incident, Union Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Rajeev Chandrasekhar slammed the SP and said that the workers were trying to create havoc in the backdrop of the PM's visit. However, the Uttar Pradesh police and the Kanpur police officials have assured about carrying out an investigation against the offenders and will soon take action to maintain peace ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.