High drama unfolded in Lucknow as Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav was denied entry to the Jai Prakash Narayan International Centre (JPNIC) to pay floral tribute to the freedom fighter and anti-Emergency campaigner, Jayaprakash Narayan, on his birth anniversary. The denial of permission was attributed to security concerns by officials. The JPNIC is a project initiated by former Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav and is situated on a three-acre plot opposite the Regional Passport Office in Gomti Nagar.
In response to the refusal, Akhilesh Yadav and several SP leaders and workers were witnessed scaling the center's boundary wall. The situation turned chaotic as police attempted to prevent them from entering, ultimately using mild force to disperse the crowd.
The JPNIC was inaugurated by Akhilesh on October 11, 2016, during his tenure as Chief Minister. In 2017, following the BJP's rise to power, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's office received a recommendation to conduct a "special audit" of the funds allocated for the construction of the JPNIC, along with two other projects that had been overseen by Akhilesh when he headed the housing department.
Akhilesh expresses his disappointment
Following the floral tribute at Jayaprakash Narayan's statue within the center, Akhilesh expressed his disappointment at the deployment of police personnel to obstruct his entry. He stated, “I am sad that they have deployed police here who are stopping me. Officers are not sure who they should ask. The people should know who is the one stopping me… I remember when the inauguration happened Netaji (Mulayam) had come here. A museum was built here for a socialist leader. The only one in the country. So people can be inspired by his life. People can be inspired on how to raise their voice in a democracy against the government. You are stifling the voice of the people. They are shutting down the museum for JP. Which failure of yours are you hiding? Not just the museum, but the building too. They don’t let people enter.”
He further emphasised the importance of people's participation in fighting against the current government, stressing that democracy, socialism, and secularism depended on the active involvement of the people. Akhilesh Yadav invoked Jayaprakash Narayan's call for "sampoorn kranti" (total revolution) and the need to safeguard these values.
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