Azamgarh Airport: Activist Sandeep Pandey, 7 Others Detained Ahead of Kisan Sangharsh Padyatra

Lucknow: Police have detained social activist Sandeep Pandey and seven others in Varanasi ahead of a foot march planned on December 24 to express solidarity with villagers protesting against Azamgarh airport’s expansion since the past 73 days at Khiriya Ka Bagh. 

Read Also: 'Will die but Won’t Give Up Land', say Farmers Opposing Azamgarh Airport Expansion

Ramon Magsaysay award recipient Pandey and other activists were scheduled to participate in the foot march, titled 'Kisan Sangharsh Padyatra', scheduled to be taken out from Kachahari in Varanasi to Khiriya Ka Bagh in Azamgarh district via Lalganj and Nizamabad on Saturday under the banner of the farmers’ collective, Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM). 

The march was to conclude in Azamgarh on December 27. However, the foot march has been postponed and there will now be a massive movement on December 27, on the completion of 75 days of the sit-in protest at Khiriya Ka Bagh.

"Sandeep Pandey and seven others were detained from Varanasi at around 8.30 pm today. They were kept in detention for a couple of hours and now they are being taken to Lucknow," Rajeev Yadav, who is leading the protest in Azamgarh, told NewsClick. 

He said the foot march was organised to convey a message that if the activists can walk around 90 km from Varanasi to Azamgarh then there is no need for any airport in the district, as locals can go to Varanasi by bus and train.  

The arrests come ahead of the much-hyped Global Investors’ Summit being organised by the UP government in February 2023.

"By arresting us, the Yogi Adityanath government wants to give a message to foreign investors that Uttar Pradesh is business- friendly. The protesting villagers might dent the government's image. But the reality is that democracy is being murdered. This is a plan to discredit our movement. We have been arrested so that news of the protest does not go out. The government is feeling insecure of its own people," Pandey told NewsClick, over the phone.

The activist alleged that the ruling party had "torn to shreds" the "dignity of democracy" by this action. He also alleged that the Yogi government was hell-bent on "brutally and blatantly silencing" every contrarian or dissenting voice "by hook or by crook".

A total of eight social activists -- two from Unnao, two from Barabanki and one each from Hardoi, Kannauj, Lucknow and Maharashtra – were detained and by the police and were being taken to state capital Lucknow, Pandey confirmed to NewsClick. 

"We held many protests, including the one against the Coca-Cola project during late Mulayam Singh’s tenure (as chief minister). We were arrested at that time, too, but the then government never stopped us from organising any protest. This is the new trend of silencing the voices rising against government injustice," he said.

All eight activists had left Lucknow on December 23 for Varanasi to participate in the foot march. "Half an hour after the train was to leave, a group of cops enter our coach. They kept an eye on our movement till we reached Varanasi. They keep informing police officers what we are doing. We had an inkling that we could get detained after reaching Varanasi. A group of police entered our coach before the train stopped at the platform. We were not even allowed to take breakfast from our comrades in Varanasi," Pandey alleged. 

This was supposed to be the second such foot march organised by Pandey from Varanasi to Azamgarh, covering three districts but stopped by the administration. On November 30, a group of farmers, social activists from Unnao, Kanpur, Lucknow and Barabanki, led by Sandeep Pandey, organised a similar march reached Azamgarh to support protesting villagers against expansion of the proposed dysfunctional airport in Manduri, on which NewsClick reported from the ground. 

Read Also: 51 Days of Agitation: Villagers Protesting Azamgarh Airport Expansion in no Mood to Relent

Meanwhile, Rajeev Yadav along with a few others who came to Varanasi to receive Pandey and to kick off the foot march was also detained by some "unknown" people while he was on the way to Azamgarh, Pandey confirmed to NewsClick. 

"When we were detained in the morning and the administration not allowed for a foot march, Rajeev along with his friends returned to Azamgarh. Meanwhile, a group of people who claimed to be Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) forcefully took them to some unknown place. They were beaten by them. Vinod Yadav from Azamgarh and Bhagwan Awagande of Maharashtra were also among them," he alleged.

Thousands of locals, mainly women, reportedly from the dalit and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) communities, have been protesting against the proposed expansion of Mandauri airstrip in Azamgarh for 73 days. The protest has been going strong, drawing support from farm leaders and social activists.

The project for expansion of the Azamgarh airstrip, under the UDAN scheme, requires a total of 600 acres -- 310.338 acres for phase-I and 264.360 acre for phase-II. In addition, 783 houses will also be affected in eight-nine villages. The project will also displace about 10,000 people from around eight villages, a district administration official told NewsClick.