Yogendra Yadav detained, 'manhandled' by police in Tamil Nadu

Swaraj Abhiyan chief Yogendra Yadav and four of his associates were detained and allegedly manhandled by police on Saturday in Tiruvannamalai district when they were on their way to meet protesting farmers against the proposed eightlane expressway between Chennai and SalemIn a series of tweets the psephologistturnedpolitician claimed besides being prevented from going to meet the farmers his phone was snatched he was manhandled and pushed into a police vanFirst hand experience of police state in Tamil Nadu said Yadav who was detained in Chengam in Tiruvannamalai districtIn a video posted in Twitter he said I am told that I am not allowed to visit farmers because there is a law and order problem Because I am going to create unrest he said adding that he had acquired prior permission from the District Magistrate for the visitHe said he was detained by the police soon after he spoke to the District Collector and told him about the forcible acquisition of land for the road projectAccording to the police Yadav had not taken any permission to meet the farmers Reacting to it Yadav said police permission was not needed to meet farmers at their own placeHe also wrote to Chengam Deputy Superintendent of Police KS Sundaramoorthy stating that the order preventing him from meeting the farmers was illegal and that it was given to him nearly five hours after he was detained in a marriage hallThe arbitrary detention was strongly condemned by DMK leader MK StalinThe DMK strongly condemns the arbitrary detention of Yogendra Yadav who supported farmers affected by the ChennaiSalem Expressway projectThe intolerant AIADMK government will pay the price for denying people the democratic right to dissent and protest Stalin tweetedThe All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee AIKSCC condemned the police action and demanded release of Yadav and othersPreventing people from voicing their opinion and forcing them to give up their land and livelihood has become a pattern of governments which are pushing a development agenda which is uprooting people and is against their interests It serves the interest of big corporates big contractors corrupt politicians and officials it said in a statementActorturnedpolitician Kamal Hassan in a tweet said the police action against Yadav is condemnableYadav along with trade union leader Dalip Singh farmer leader from Odisha Lingaraj State Convener of Swaraj India K Balakrishnan and Joint Convener for the movement against the road project Arul Arumugam was to meet the farmers who are opposed to the expressway and do not want to part with their landCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Except for the change in the headline the story has been provided ASIS AS AVAILABLE without any verification or editing from our side Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever