The crackdown was on Qualified Teachers
Chandigarh: Ahead of the election polls in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, On Wednesday, Senior Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's women-centred "Ladki hoon, lad Sakti hoon (I'm a girl and can fight)" campaign in Uttar Pradesh faced a challenge in a state governed by her party. Taking notes from the Punjab Chief Minister's rally in Sangrur, the police were seen gagging, dragging, and loading women and men into jeeps. The crackdown was on qualified teachers, who, unable to find jobs, had gathered at the spot to protest.
The horrifying visuals showcased the police trying to hold back slogan-shouting teachers. As slogans condemning the Chief Minister and the Punjab government rang out. Punjab police then started gagging the agitators, stuffing cloth in their mouths.
During the hustle, one of the police personnel was started dragging a woman agitator by her clothes as she wiggled, all the while shouting slogans against the Congress Govt. The visuals also showed the protesters including that woman in a police bus taking away from the site of the hustle. Unrelenting, she continued shouting slogans as a policewoman tried to pull her back inside and shut the window. The bus then drove away.
The visuals were shared throughout the social media by the tweet of news agency ANI, it says: "#WATCH | Punjab Police detained unemployed BEd TET (teacher eligibility test) qualified teachers who protested in CM Charanjit Singh Channi's rally in Sangrur earlier today."
Many men protesting at the rally were heckled by supporters of the Chief Minister. In some cases, there were physical assaults.
A man was seen catching a protester in a chokehold, trying to cover his mouth to stop him from booing the government. Others helped the police gag the protesters and herd them into a waiting truck.
In one of the clips, three cops were seen trying to pin a man down to the ground and kneeling on his chest before hauling him away. The footage, in the end, shows Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on the stage ready for his address.
The police action on teachers drew criticism from the BJP. Social media was flooded with messages, some of them even targeting Priyanka Gandhi Vadra over her women-centric campaign.
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